The I-515 designation was first approved in 1976, but construction did not begin until 1982, and was constructed in stages until it reached its former terminus north of Railroad Pass in 1994, when signs of the designation finally were put up. I-515 was built to bypass Fremont Street and Boulder Highway, both of which were former alignments of US93, US95, and US466, and provide a direct freeway connection with Henderson.
Prior to August 2017, I-515 extended southeastward past the I-215 interchange before terminating at the southern city limits of Henderson. This segment has been redesignated as I-11. The Nevada Department of Transportation announced in 2022 that part of the preferred alternative for the future northward extension of I-11 would follow the remainder of the I-515 alignment. Signs for I-11 along I-515 and US 95 north of I-15 will begin to go up in 2024, and the I-515 designation is expected to be decommissioned.[3]
Route description
The southern terminus of I-515 is at an interchange with I-11, I-215, US93, US95, and SR564 in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas. The freeway continues south as I-11 towards Boulder City and the Hoover Dam on the former alignment of I-515.[4] The six-lane freeway travels northwest from the interchange and carries the concurrent designations of I-515, US93, and US95 through Henderson as it passes the Sunset Station casino and Galleria at Sunset shopping mall. I-515 then turns north and intersects Tropicana Avenue (SR593), Flamingo Road (SR592), and the Boulder Highway (SR582) as it approaches Las Vegas. After entering the city of Las Vegas, the highway turns west and intersects Las Vegas Boulevard on the north side of Downtown Las Vegas. I-515 ends at the Spaghetti Bowl, an interchange with I-15,[5] while the roadway continues west as Oran K. Gragson Freeway (carrying US95).[6]
History
Prior to the completion of the freeway, US93 and US95 originally followed Fremont Street/Boulder Highway from Downtown Las Vegas southeast through Henderson to Boulder City.[7] Boulder Highway was signed as a business route of US93/US95 after the freeway was completed, but that designation has since been removed; it is now just SR582.[citation needed]
The I-515 freeway, which began construction in 1982, is a continuation of the Oran K. Gragson Freeway (named for the former Las Vegas mayor who advocated for the construction of the then Las Vegas Expressway) which ran primarily along the former West Fremont Street alignment between Las Vegas Boulevard and Rainbow Boulevard.[citation needed] The spur was completed southeast to Charleston Boulevard (SR159) in 1984, to Tropicana Avenue (SR593) in 1986, to Russell Road in 1988, to Lake Mead Parkway (SR564) (then known as Lake Mead Drive, SR146 west and SR147 east), in 1990, and finally to Railroad Pass just south of Boulder Highway in 1994 at an at-grade intersection with Paradise Hills Drive (which was eventually removed).[citation needed] With this extension of highway complete, the length of I-515 was 20.010 miles (32.203km).[8]
The I-515 designation was first approved by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) on July12, 1976, from the I-15 interchange to the junction of US93 and US95 (at Boulder Highway, current exit70).[9] On December7, 1984, AASHTO approved the southeasterly extension of the route to its former terminus near Boulder City.[10] Even though the route number was approved prior to the highway's construction, I-515 was not consistently signed until after the freeway was completed down to its former southern terminus north of Railroad Pass in 1994.[citation needed]
With the pending construction of the Boulder City Bypass introducing the I-11 designation to Nevada, the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) sought to connect the new route to other Interstate Highways. NDOT submitted an application to AASHTO at their spring 2014meeting to request the designation of "Future Interstate11", which included routing I-11 along existing I-515 between Railroad Pass and the I-215 Henderson Spaghetti Bowl interchange—AASHTO approved this request on May29, 2014, with condition that it also be approved by the Federal Highway Administration.[11] The Boulder City Bypass was completed in August2018. As a result, I-515 was shortened by 5.566 miles (8.958km) to its current length of 14.444mi (23.245km). NDOT began replacing I-515 signs along the southern stretch with I-11 signs on March17, 2019. The signing continued through April26, 2019.[12]
Future
The designation of future I-11 is planned to connect the Phoenix, Arizona, and Las Vegas metropolitan areas, with potential for future expansion northwest of Las Vegas to Reno in the northwestern part of the state. The current I-515 alignment, with a continuation northwest along US95, was one of three corridors under consideration to carry the I-11 designation through the Las Vegas Valley.[13] On July 27, 2022, it was announced that the Nevada Department of Transportation had chosen the central corridor, following the current path of I-515 and US95, as the preferred alternative for the alignment of I-11 through Las Vegas,[14] and signage will be put up in 2024; the I-515 designation will be decommissioned at that time.[3]
Beginning in 2022, several construction projects have been started or planned to improve the I-515 corridor as a whole. The projects include soundwall and retaining wall reconstruction, bridge rehabilitation, and interchange improvements. All the projects are expected to be started by 2027.[15]
Exit list
This section does not cite any sources. (October 2023)
Exits on I-515 are numbered according to US95 mileposts.
The entire route is in Clark County.
"Appendix Q. I-515 Executive Summary". Southern Nevada Traffic Study. Nevada Department of Transportation. October 2018. p.ES–1. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
Nevada Department of Transportation (1985). Official Highway Map of Nevada (Map) (1985–1986ed.). Scale not given. Carson City: Nevada Department of Transportation. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Interstate_515, and is written by contributors.
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