Interstate 315 Montana

Overview

Interstate 315 spurs east from I-15 by Great Falls Market Place shopping center to Country Club Boulevard at 6th Street SW. Totaling just 0.828 miles per the 2013 MDT Route log, I-315 is only slightly longer than the shortest Interstate highway, unsigned Interstate 878 near John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
Signs for Exit 278 along Interstate 15 reference Business Loop I-15, U.S. 89 and MT 200. I-315 is omitted due to the number of overlapped routes. MT 3 is also routed along the freeway, but equally unsigned.
The Great Falls Business Loop for Interstate 15 loops east via U.S. 89 and MT 200 along Country Club Boulevard and 10th Avenue South to 5th Street south and 6th Street north. The I-315 portion passes over both 14th Street SW and a BNSF Railroad. An 11-block couplet takes the business route north 0.8 miles from U.S. 89/MT 3-200 (10th Avenue South) to 1st Avenue North and the central business district. 1st Avenue west across the Missouri River to Central Avenue returns Business Loop I-15 solo to I-15 at Exit 280.
Montana Highway 3 begins along side Interstate 315 from I-15. The state highway connects Great Falls with Billings, and it is cosigned with U.S. 89, MT 200, U.S. 87, U.S. 191 and U.S. 12. The only section of MT 3 that is not cosigned with another route is the segment between Lavina (U.S. 12) and Billings (Interstate 90 – Exit 450). The extended MT 3 was commissioned around 2000; originally it only traveled between Lavina and Billings.
History
A contract to build a 0.6 mile section of Interstate 315 was completed by September 15, 1967.1 The lone interchange (Exit 0) at 14th Street SW was added in 1995.
Route Information
East End – Great Falls, MT
West End – Great Falls, MT
Mileage – 0.83
Cities – Great Falls
- Junctions –
Source: December 31, 2018 Interstate Route Log and Finders List
I-315 Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT)
Location | Vehicles per day |
---|---|
I-15 to Exit 0 | 16,802 |
Exit 0 to Fox Farm Rd | 26,212 |
East of Fox Farm Rd | 28,209 |
Source: 2018 AADT – MDT’s Interactive Traffic web map
Business Loop I-15 follows the couplet of 5th and 6th Street between U.S. 89 and 1st Avenue.
Highway Guides
East End
at Fox Farm Road – Great Falls, Montana
East
North
South at 6th Street SW / Fox Farm Rd
6th Street SW angles northeast across the Sun River to the Jewel Addition area of Great Falls. Fox Farm Road extends south from the signalized intersection to Montana Addition and other subdivisions. A controlled access section of Business Loop I-15 ensues from the traffic light to 4th Street S. Photo taken 07/07/16.
West
South
North
West End
– Great Falls, Montana
West
South
North
North at
South
East at
Interstate 15/U.S. 89-MT 200 turn south from the split with Business Loop I-15 to cross the Sun River and next meet unsigned I-315 (Exit 278). MT 200 is part of multi-state route extending east from Idaho to Minnesota across the northern tier of the United States roughly parallel to U.S. 2. Photo taken 07/07/16.
A trumpet interchange (Exit 278) returns Business Loop I-15 south from 10th Avenue S and Country Club Boulevard to I-15 in one quarter mile. Although unsigned here, MT 3 also begins. The state highway was designated to connect Great Falls with Billings on a consistently numbered route. Photo taken 07/07/16.
East
North
South

Traffic from I-15 north and south combines just ahead of this shield assembly with the first marker for MT 3. A loop ramp (Exit 0) quickly follows for 14th Street SW. Photo taken by James Horton (03/29/03).
Sources:
- Montana Highway Department. (1965). The Center line: Montana Highway Commission. Helena, MT.
Page updated August 28, 2019.