Interstate 215 (
I-215), also known locally as the
Belt Route, is the only auxiliary Interstate in the
U.S. state of
Utah, forming a three-quarters loop around
Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs. The route begins at the mouth of
Parley's Canyon at a junction with
I-80 east of the city center, and heads south through the edge of the
Salt Lake City metropolitan area's eastern suburbs of
Millcreek,
Holladay, and
Cottonwood Heights. It continues west through
Murray before turning north again, passing through the city's first-ring western suburbs of
Taylorsville and
West Valley City. It then enters
North Salt Lake and
Davis County for a short distance before reaching
I-15 northwest of the city center.
The Interstate was proposed in the mid-1950s, along with I-15 and I-80 through Salt Lake City. At the time, only the western portion of the belt route was assigned as I-215. The eastern portion of the belt route was designated
Interstate 415. However, the I-415 designation was scrapped to provide a single route number for the entire route in 1969, with the I-215 designation covering the complete belt route. The freeway was constructed in segments, the first of which opened in 1963 between Redwood Road in North Salt Lake and 2100 North near the
airport. I-215 was originally planned to be complete in the mid-1970s, but the last section, between 6200 South and 4500 South in Holladay, was not completed until 1989 because of challenges from citizens' groups over environmental impact statements. (
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