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Interstate 15 in California

section of Interstate Highway in California, United States

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ270391
Source-derived summary

Route 15, consisting of the contiguous segments of State Route 15 (SR 15) and Interstate 15 (I-15), is a major north–south state highway and Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of California, connecting San Diego, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. The route consists of the southernmost 287.26 miles (462.30 km) of I-15, which extends north through Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Montana to the Canada–US border. It is a major thoroughfare for traffic between San Diego and the Inland Empire, as well as between Southern California; Las Vegas, Nevada; and the Intermountain West.

South of its junction at I-8 in San Diego, the highway becomes SR 15, extending about 5.59 miles (9.00 km) to I-5 in San Diego's Barrio Logan district, about 12.56 miles (20.21 km) from the Mexico–United States border, before the road runs about 0.55 miles (0.89 km) further to its terminus at 32nd Street, north of Harbor Drive. Though some maps and signs may mark SR 15 (or even I-15) as extending south through 32nd Street to Harbor Drive, the highway south of I-5 and Main Street is controlled by the City of San Diego instead of the state. The portion of Route 15 south of I-8 was initially signed as a state route because it was not up to Interstate standards, but it is being upgraded so it would become part of the Interstate Highway system in the future. In total, the entire length of Route 15 in California is 293.57 miles (472.46 km).

I-15 has portions designated as the Escondido Freeway, Avocado Highway, Temecula Valley Freeway, Corona Freeway, Ontario Freeway, Barstow Freeway, CHP Officer Larry L. Wetterling and San Bernardino County Sheriff's Lieutenant Alfred E. Stewart Memorial Highway, or Mojave Freeway. It is also known colloquially as "the 15" to residents of Southern California.

Route description

Route 15 is defined as follows in section 315 of the California Streets and Highways Code:

Route 15 is from:

(a) Route 5 in San Diego to Route 8.(b) Route 8 to the Nevada state line near Stateline, Nevada via the vicinity of Temecula, Corona, Ontario, Victorville, and Barstow.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Interstate 15 in California” as section of Interstate Highway in California, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Interstate, California and section.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current 350-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1957. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Interstate, California and section providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Interstate 15 in California”, the useful work is to connect “section of Interstate Highway in California, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q270391. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Interstate 15 in California”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Interstate 15 in California primary sources, Interstate 15 in California archive and Interstate research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Interstate 15 in California” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.