Interstate 15 in Montana

 

I-15
Get started Monida Pass
End sweetgrass
Length 398 mi
Length 640 km
Route
  • Idaho0 Monida
  • 9 Lima Reservoir
  • 15 Lima
  • 23 Dell
  • 37 Clark Canyon
  • 44 Grant
  • 56 Bannack
  • 59 Dillon
  • 60 Dillon
  • 63 Dillon
  • 74 Twin Bridges
  • 85 Glen
  • 93 Twin Bridges
  • 102 Dewey
  • 121 → Missoula / Seattle
  • 125 → Butte
  • 126 Butte
  • 127 Butte
  • 129 → Billings
  • 134 Elk Park Pass
  • 138 Beaverhead-Deerlodge Nat. forest
  • 151 Deer Lodge
  • 156 Basin
  • 164 Boulder
  • 176 Jefferson City
  • 182 Clancy
  • 187 Montana City
  • 192 → Helena / Missoula
  • 193 Helena
  • 200 York
  • 209 Hauser Dam
  • 216 Canyon Creek
  • 226 Wolf Creek
  • 228 Holter Dam
  • 234 Craig
  • 247 Hardy
  • 256 Cascade
  • 270 Ulm
  • 277 Great Falls Airport
  • 278 Great Falls
  • 280 Great Falls
  • 290 → Vaughn
  • 297 Benton Lake
  • 302 Power
  • 313 Dutton
  • 321 Collins
  • 328 Brady
  • 335 Conrad
  • 339 Conrad
  • 345 Ledger
  • 348 Valier
  • 352 Lake Elwell
  • 358 Marias River
  • 363 → Kalispell / Glasgow
  • 364 Shelby
  • 369 Toole
  • 379 Oilmont
  • 385 Kevin
  • 389 Sunburst
  • 397 Sweet Grass
  • → Calgary

Interstate 15 or I -15 is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Montana. The highway forms a north-south route in the west of the state, and is the only north-south route in the sparsely populated state to be developed as a highway. The highway begins at Monida Pass at the Idaho border, and passes through a number of small towns to the Canadian border at Sweetgrass, before continuing as Alberta Highway 4 toward Calgary. The route in Montana is partly mountainous, and partly crosses the High Plains. The route is 640 kilometers long.

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Travel directions

I-15 at Butte.

I-15 at Great Falls.

At the 2,094-foot-tall Monida Pass, Interstate 15 in Idaho merges into Montana. The highway runs north through the Red Rock River valley. On both sides of the highway are mountains that reach up to 3200 meters. This area is very sparsely populated, with sporadic turnings into remote hamlets. The first place you come across is Dillon, after 100 kilometers. Further north, one again crosses the Continental Divide, the watershed between the two oceans at 1799 meters, Deer Lodge Pass. Not far after this, I-15 joins Interstate 90, just west of Butte. Northwest, I-90 leads to Missoula, Spokane, and finally Seattle. I-90 and I-15 are double-numbered here near the mining town of Butte, which has 34,000 inhabitants, and is the largest town for miles around. To the center of Butte, Interstate 115 exits, a short highway that is more of a long exit. On the east side of town, I-15 turns north and continues eastwards I-90 to Billings, and on across the vast prairies.

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North of Butte you pass the Elk Grant Pass, which is 1941 meters high. After this, I-15 descends quickly toward Helena, the state capital of Montana. Here one crosses the US 12, which runs west to I-90 and Missoula, and east to Miles City in eastern Montana. Helena itself is small, with 26,000 inhabitants. People come here more on the plateau of the High Plains. At Holter Dam, US 287 turns north, including Glacier National Park. From here, the highway also parallels the Missouri River. Not far from the highway are high mountain ranges such as the Big Belt Mountains and the Little Belt Mountains, which reach up to 2800 meters. After this, you pass Great Falls, with 57,000 inhabitants the largest city on the route, and the second largest city in the state. The highway runs west of the city. A little further on, the US 89 turns off, which leads to Glacier National Park. This area consists mainly of agricultural areas. Winter driving can be dangerous here during snow storms, due to the remoteness of this area. The agricultural areas are occasionally interrupted by wild hills. The last slightly larger town before the Canadian border is Shelby, where theUS 2 crosses the northernmost US Highway. From here one can go to Kalispell to the west, and Glasgow to the east. Due to the total lack of commuter traffic, the highway is very quiet. At Sweetgrass one crosses the Canadian border, after which the road continues as Highway 4 in Alberta, a 2×2 divided highway. From here you can travel on to Lethbridge, Calgary and Edmonton.

History

The predecessor of I-15 was US 91, large parts of I-15 have been built directly over US 91, so that the original route has mostly disappeared, or only fulfills a local importance in places where I-15 does not directly cross the old route. route could be constructed.

I-15 was largely put into service in the 1960s and early 1970s. Construction of the Monida Pass section was awarded in 1958, Montana’s first Interstate Highway to be built. The first stretch of double-lane road opened in 1960 between Cascade and Ulm, a stretch more than 20 kilometers southwest of Great Falls. Fragmented sections opened up in Montana in the first half of the 1960s, with the first longer continuous stretch around the capital Helena, where a 42-kilometer stretch was open from 1964. In 1971 the route was continuous between Helena and Great Falls. By the mid-1970s the route was largely complete, the last two missing links being along Dillon in southern Montana and the twisty section between Butte and Boulder. The section along Dillon opened in the late 1970s or early 1980s, the mountain section between Butte and Boulder only followed around 1987 and was completed much later than the rest of I-15 in Montana. The section south of Dillon opened in 1988, the last stretch of Interstate Highway to be opened in Montana. As a result, I-15 was both the first and last section of the Interstate Highways built in Montana.

Opening history

The years are an indication and derived from the official state highway maps.

from nasty length date
Exit 256 Cascade Exit 270 Ulm 23 km 1960
Exit 358 Shelby Exit 364 Shelby 10 km 1961
Exit 282 Great Falls Exit 290 Vaughn 13 km 1961
Exit 389 Sunburst Exit 394 8 km 1963
Exit 254 Cascade Exit 256 Cascade 3 km 1963
Exit 0 Idaho state line Exit 15 Lima 24 km 1963
Exit 119 Silver Bow Exit 121 I-90 (west) 2 km 1963
Exit 190 Helena Exit 216 42 km 1964
Exit 328 Brady Exit 335 Conrad 11 km 1964
Exit 364 Shelby Exit 379 Oilmont 24 km 1965
Exit 394 Exit 397 Canadian border 5 km 1965
Exit 216 Exit 228 US 287 19 km 1966
Exit 277 Great Falls Exit 282 Great Falls 8 km 1967
Exit 228 US 287 Exit 234 Craig 10 km 1968
Exit 250 Exit 254 Cascade 6 km 1968
Exit 182 Clancy Exit 190 Helena 13 km 1969
Exit 129 I-90 (East) Exit 134 8 km 1969
Exit 37 Red Rock Exit 52 Dalys 24 km 1969
Exit 270 Ulm Exit 277 Great Falls 11 km 1970
Exit 15 Lima Exit 37 Red Rock 35 km 1971
Exit 234 Craig Exit 250 26 km 1971
Exit 379 Oilmont Exit 389 Sunburst 16 km 1971
Exit 63 Dillon Exit 93 Melrose 48 km 1973
Exit 164 Boulder Exit 182 Clancy 29 km 1973
Exit 290 Vaughn Exit 302 Power 19 km 1973
Exit 335 Conrad Exit 352 27 km 1974
Exit 302 Power Exit 313 Dutton 18 km 1975
Exit 111 Exit 119 Silver Bow 13 km 1975
Exit 93 Melrose Exit 111 29 km 1976
Exit 313 Dutton Exit 328 Brady 24 km 1977
Exit 134 Exit 138 Elk Park 6 km 1977
Exit 352 Exit 358 Shelby 10 km 1978
Exit 138 Elk Park Exit 164 Boulder 42 km 1987
Exit 52 Dalys Exit 63 Dillon 18 km 1988

Traffic intensities

The traffic volumes on I-15 are very low almost everywhere. More than 5,000 vehicles per day travel on only a small number of routes. The busiest point is the double numbering with I-90 at Butte where 19,000 vehicles run per day. In the capital Helena there are a maximum of 12,000 vehicles and in Great Falls just 10,000 vehicles are tapped per day. Only 2,000 vehicles per day drive on the border with Canada.

Lane Configuration

From Unpleasant Lanes Comments
exit 0 Exit 398 2×2

Interstate 15 in Montana