Roads
See also: Interstate 15, Interstate 80, Interstate 215, Legacy Highway (State Route 67), Mountain View Corridor (State Route 85), State Route 154, and Utah State Route 201Two major interstate highways, Interstate 15 and Interstate 80, intersect just west of Downtown Salt Lake City. I-15 comes in from Davis County on the north and heads straight south through the Salt Lake Valley. I-80 comes in from the west and passes Salt Lake City International Airport before merging with I-15 west of Downtown. The merge continues south for about 3 mi (5 km) before I-80 splits east again. It passes through largely residential areas through northern South Salt Lake and the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City before entering Parley's Canyon.
Interstate 215, known as the "Belt Route", forms a 270° loop around Salt Lake City and its first-ring suburbs. It enters the Rose Park neighborhood in northwestern Salt Lake City from Davis County (where it recently split from I-15) and continues south, intersecting I-80 and State Route 201 before turning east in Taylorsville, intersecting I-15 in Murray, and turning north in Holladay. From there it parallels the Wasatch Range through the affleunt residential eastern suburbs before ending at I-80 at the mouth of Parley's Canyon. This belt route largely serves as a commuter route for the suburbs.
The 2002 Winter Olympics prompted an urgent acceleration of the already planned massive overhaul of I-15, from 600 North in Salt Lake City to 10600 South in Sandy. The interstate was expanded to 10 lanes, including 2 high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes. Portions of I-80 and I-215 were also reconstructed. Since original construction, the HOV lanes have been evolved to what the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) refers to as Express Lanes. These Express Lanes, also known as high occupancy/toll (HOT) lanes are for use by vehicles with two or more persons (including buses), motorcycles, and clean-fuel vehicles. Other vehicles can also use the lanes if they use an Express Pass. The Express Pass allows for automatice electronic toll collection. Tolls vary by distance driven in the lanes and current traffic congestion.
State Route 201, known locally as the "21st South Freeway" or as "201", is a freeway that heads westward from the southern I-80/I-15 junction, known as the "Spaghetti Bowl", along the border of Salt Lake City and West Valley City. This is a largely congested route that serves much of the west side commuter traffic. As it dips southward into Magna, it is downgraded to an expressway, although it is eventually planned to be upgraded to a freeway as traffic from Tooele County increases. It continues westward to I-80 near the Tooele County line. In addition to serving the westside of the valley SR 201 also serves as a commuter freeway for Tooele County and an alternative to I-80 when needed.
Bangerter Highway (State Route 154) is an expressway that serves the quickly-growing west and south sides of the valley. It begins near I-15 in Draper then heads west through Bluffdale and Riverton before heading north along the west side of the valley through South Jordan, West Jordan, West Valley City, and Salt Lake City before ending at the Salt Lake City International Airport. Another expressway, that will eventually become a freeway, is the Mountain View Corridor ([SR-85 and a section of the Legacy Highway project) which will run from Utah County along the west side of the valley until it reaches I-80. So far only the frontage road portion of the section that runs from Redwood Road (SR-68) at about 16000 South north to 5400 South (SR-73) at 6400 West has been completed. However, these frontage roads will function as a four lane divided expressway until the freeway is completed.
Another major roadway through the valley is State Street, which is the portion of US-89 that shoots arrow-straight south through the valley from Downtown Salt Lake City to Draper, before connecting with I-15.
Read more about this topic: Transportation In Salt Lake City
Famous quotes containing the word roads:
“Other roads do some violence to Nature, and bring the traveler to stare at her, but the river steals into the scenery it traverses without intrusion, silently creating and adorning it, and is as free to come and go as the zephyr.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We joined long wagon trains moving south; we met hundreds of wagons going north; the roads east and west were crawling lines of families traveling under canvas, looking for work, for another foothold somewhere on the land.... The country was ruined, the whole world was ruined; nothing like this had ever happened before. There was no hope, but everyone felt the courage of despair.”
—Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968)
“This, my first [bicycle] had an intrinsic beauty. And it opened for me an era of all but flying, which roads emptily crossing the airy, gold-gorsy Common enhanced. Nothing since has equalled that birdlike freedom.”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)