Utah State Route 106 - History

History

SR-106 was created on May 12, 1931 as a bypass of State Route 1 (US-91) from southern Bountiful to northern Farmington. (This is now the route taken by US-89, mostly overlapping I-15, the former crossing of South 500 West and South Main Street in Bountiful and SR-273 in Farmington). US-91 was moved to the bypass, and, for a while, the old route (still SR-1) was signed as U.S. Route 91 Alternate. In 1953, the Utah State Legislature switched SR-1 and SR-106, taking SR-106 along the older route, and extended SR-106 north along former SR-1 to southern Layton (now exit 330 of I-15) in conjunction with a new bypass of SR-1 south of Layton. (The rest of old SR-106 in northern Farmington became an extension of SR-49, now US-89.) A minor change on May 8, 1961 moved SR-106 from Main Street west to 200 West through Bountiful, taking southbound SR-106 over the Parkin Overpass at its south end. SR-106 was further extended south along old SR-1 to the north side of Salt Lake City (I-15 exit 312) in 1962, when SR-1 was moved to match the planned Interstate 15, and north via Ogden to the Utah Hot Springs (I-15 exit 351) on November 25, 1966, replacing more of SR-1.

This extension of SR-106 through Ogden only lasted until 1969; that year, the State Legislature removed the part between 200 North in Kaysville and the I-15 interchange (now exit 330) in southern Layton, and redesignated the part from southern Layton north to Utah Hot Springs as SR-84. On March 7, 1969, the Utah State Department of Highways (now the Utah Department of Transportation) added Shepard Lane in northern Farmington to the state highway system, from SR-106 west to US-89 (SR-49). SR-106 was rerouted over this roadway, ending at US-89, in order to eliminate a hazardous intersection where US-89 and SR-106 had crossed. The former SR-106 was renumbered SR-272 south of and SR-273 north of this intersection. The old alignment north of Shepard Lane, where still state-maintained, has since become SR-273, SR-126, SR-26, and US-89. As part of the 1977 renumbering, the short piece of SR-106 between Becks and the Parkin Overpass, which was signed as US-89, officially became part of that route.

State Route 131 was added to the state highway system on June 26, 1933 as a loop off SR-1 through Woods Cross. It began at South Main Street and South 800 West and preceded north on 800 West and east on 400 North to North Main Street. As part of the change to SR-106 (which had replaced SR-1 at the north end of SR-131) made on May 8, 1961, SR-131 was truncated from North Main Street to North 200 West, since this portion was now SR-106. SR-131 was truncated to run only along 400 North, from I-15 (SR-1) east to SR-106, by the 1969 State Legislature; most of the former route was deleted from the state highway system, but the southernmost part on 800 West, connecting US-89 (SR-106) to I-15 (SR-1), became an extension of SR-93, which ran east from this I-15 interchange to US-89. (This extension of SR-93 was removed from the state highway system in 1985, but the original piece remains.) A short extension to SR-131 was made on April 25, 1997, adding 400 North from I-15 west over the Union Pacific Railroad's Salt Lake Subdivision to the route.

In early 2001, the city of Bountiful requested that UDOT give up maintenance on the part of SR-106 along 200 West between 500 South (SR-68) and 400 North (SR-131). The state agreed on February 9, 2001, and SR-106 took over what had been SR-131. The portion of SR-106 from SR-68 south to the Parkin Overpass became an extension of SR-68.