Utah State Route 9
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| State Route 9 |
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| Length: | 57.1 mi (91.3 km) | ||||||||
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| East end: |  I-15 outside Hurricane |
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| Major junctions: |
Telegraph Street (County Road 212) in Hurricane |
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| West end: |  US-89 at Mount Carmel Junction |
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Scenic State Route 9 (Utah), starts at the western terminus at exit 16 on Interstate 15. It runs through Zion National Park, ending at the eastern junction with U.S. Route 89. The highway is 54 miles long. There is a fee to travel through Zion National Park, but the highway is open to private vehicles year-round. A separate fee is required for vehicles 7'10" wide and/or 11'4" tall or larger. This fee pays for a ranger to stop traffic from the other side of the Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel to allow the larger vehicles to pass through. There is a smaller tunnel in Zion National Park that does not require an escort.
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[edit] Traffic Volume
The average daily traffic (AADT) volume for SR-9 is at its highest between I-15 and the cities of Hurricane, Utah and La Verkin, Utah, due to a large number of residents who commute to St. George to work and shop. In this section, the AADT is approximately 20,000. Once past La Verkin, the AADT drops to about 2,000 vehicles per day. (See Here, page 5)
[edit] St. George to Zion National Park
SR-9 begins at Interstate 15 Exit 16 just north of St. George. The immediate vicinity of Exit 16 has been subject to a great deal of development in recent years. Immediately upon exiting I-15, SR-9 enters the Coral Canyon Development, which features (as most communities in the region do) an 18-hole golf course. Coral Canyon is split by the city boundaries of Hurricane and Washington Cities. Upon leaving this new development, SR-9 passes through two ridges and begins its descent into the aptly-named Purgatory Flats, home of the County Fairgrounds and a penitentiary. The 'flats' are a relatively level area between two sharply defined ridges. Quail Lake, which is in fact a reservoir, lies about a mile to the north of the road between these two ridges. Upon passing through the second ridge, SR-9 crosses the Virgin River & climbs a small plateau to the region of Hurricane known as Brentwood. The road descends from this plateau into downtown Hurricane, where Utah State Route 59 splits to the south and the Arizona Border. SR-9 then swings north towards the town of LaVerkin, crossing an old bridge over the LaVerkin River Ravine, before entering that town. In LaVerkin, Utah State Route 17 takes off to the north, where it meets back up with I-15. After leaving LaVerkin, SR-9 heads uphill and passes several very scenic mesas before eventually going through the small towns of Virgin, Rockville and Springdale.
[edit] Zion National Park to Mt. Carmel Junction
The historic and exceptionally scenic section of State Route 9 (Utah) twists and turns along 14 incredible miles through Zion National Park to Mount Carmel Junction. This section of the road is called the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway. The Nevada Construction Co. completed the Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel after three years of construction. The cost was a whopping (for that time) $1,896,000. The highway begins on the south side of Zion National Park following along the Virgin River. The road then turns at the junction of Pine Creek and the Virgin River and continues up Pine Creek Canyon, up the Switchbacks and into the Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel. On the east side of the tunnel the highway continues through impressive scenery, past the Canyon Overlook Trailhead, the East Rim Trailhead and the unique Zion landmark, Checkerboard Mesa. Finally the road exits the park through the east entrance and 12 miles later ends at the junction of State Route 9 and U.S. Route 89 in Mount Carmel Junction.
