The freeway connected traffic headed from Boulder City and Henderson to Downtown Las Vegas via a direct, high-speed route, and it ran concurrently with, US 93, and US 95 along its entire length.

I-515 was built to bypass Fremont Street and Boulder Highway, both of which were former alignments of US 93, US 95, and US 466, and provide a direct freeway connection with Henderson.

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.

I-515 ended at the Spaghetti Bowl, an interchange with I-15,[7] while the roadway continues west as Oran K. Gragson Freeway (carrying US 95).

[8] Prior to the completion of the freeway, US 93 and US 95 originally followed Fremont Street/Boulder Highway from Downtown Las Vegas southeast through Henderson to Boulder City.

[12] 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.

[15] On July 27, 2022, it was announced that the Nevada Department of Transportation had chosen the central corridor, following the former path of I-515 and US 95, as the preferred alternative for the alignment of I-11 through Las Vegas,[16] and signage was put up in May 2024; the I-515 designation was decommissioned at that time.