Old 215 Reveals Riverside's Uneven Development

Larry Burns’ May 15, 2026 walk along Old 215 Frontage Road turned a short stretch of roadside into a close look at how a city boundary reads on foot. In a Raincross Gazette essay, Burns walked between Eucalyptus Avenue and Alessandro Boulevard, out on the east side and back on the west, for about a mile each way. He wrote that the route sits along, and sometimes cuts through, the Riverside-Moreno Valley line. He also described how the corridor changes block by block, from dirt shoulders and truck traffic to sidewalks, businesses and older roadside landmarks. ### Where exactly is this stretch of road? Old 215 Frontage Road runs beside the modern Interstate 215 near the 60/215 interchange, and Burns placed his walk between Eucalyptus and Alessandro on Riverside’s east side. He wrote that the border is not clean on the ground because parcels shift between Riverside and Moreno Valley along the route. A Moreno Valley planning document for the Old Highway 215 project similarly describes land “directly east of the city boundary with City of Riverside” and south of Bay Avenue along Old 215 Frontage Road. (raincrossgazette.com) ### What did Burns say changes when you walk it instead of drive it? Burns wrote that Old 215 Frontage Road “is not trying to charm anybody” and has no trailhead sign or invitation to explore. He said he had driven the road regularly in the 1990s when Moreno Valley was a more convenient shopping and entertainment trip, but walking it showed details he missed “through the windshield.” Those details included recently disced lots used for fire mitigation and ground strewn with plastic packaging, drink cups, tires and hubcaps. (raincrossgazette.com) A sheriff’s patrol was watching for speeders during Burns’ walk, he wrote, and he said the speed limit was 50 where he started on dirt and gravel with no sidewalk. Burns also described Old 215 as a local bypass for drivers trying to avoid congestion at the 215/60 interchange, even if, in his account, it is “not really much faster.” (raincrossgazette.com) ### What was the clearest difference between Riverside and Moreno Valley? At Eucalyptus Avenue, Burns wrote, the Moreno Valley side began with dirt and gravel and a wide shoulder instead of a sidewalk. On the return trip, he said the Riverside side offered a more protected walk, with sidewalks that put more distance between pedestrians and traffic. That contrast is the article’s most direct on-the-ground comparison between the two cities’ public realm on the same corridor. (raincrossgazette.com) Burns did not attribute that difference to a single city decision in the essay. But city and project records show the corridor is split by jurisdiction and active development. Moreno Valley documents describe an 11.2-acre light industrial proposal at the southeast corner of Old 215 Frontage Road and Bay Avenue, while Riverside permit records show recent industrial construction and tenant work at 6973 Old 215 Frontage Road, including a completed 21,038-square-foot warehouse-and-office building and later sign and site-access applications. (raincrossgazette.com) ### Which landmarks stood out on the route? The New Star Motel, established in 1953, appears in the Gazette report beneath a Historic California U.S. 395 Route marker. Burns used that site to show how the road still carries traces of an earlier travel corridor built for motorists who needed roadside rooms close to the highway. Burns also noted discarded technology repurposed as roadside art along the route. (moval.gov) In his telling, the objects and businesses along Old 215 help explain how a neglected edge corridor can still hold visible local identity, especially when seen at walking speed instead of driving speed. That framing comes from Burns’ reported observations in the essay. (raincrossgazette.com) ### Why does this matter as a local story now? Raincross Gazette published Burns’ piece on May 15 as part of a recurring neighborhood walking series. The timing overlaps with continuing industrial activity on both sides of the border corridor, including Moreno Valley’s Old 215 industrial planning documents and Riverside permit activity at addresses on the same frontage road. Those records do not make Burns’ argument for him, but they show the strip is still being built, leased and modified as a working edge between two cities. (raincrossgazette.com) May 15, 2026 is also the date readers can use to find Burns’ full account in the Raincross Gazette archive, where the feature appears under the community section byline for Larry Burns. (raincrossgazette.com) (raincrossgazette.com)