U.S. Route 91

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U.S. Route 91
Length:	172.663 mi[1] (277.874 km)
Formed:	1926[2]
South end:	I-15/I-84/BUS I-15/BUS I-84 at Brigham City, UT
Major junctions:	US 89 at Logan, UT US 30 at McCammon, ID I-86 at Pocatello, ID
North end:	BUS I-15/U.S. 26 at Idaho Falls, ID
United States Numbered Highways List - Bannered - Divided - Replaced

U.S. Route 91 is a north-south United States highway. The highway currently serves as a connection between the Cache Valley area of Utah and Idaho to the Salt Lake and Pocatello population centers. Prior the mid-1970s, U.S. 91 was a long haul route from Long Beach, California to the Canadian border north of Sweetgrass, Montana. The route has been largely replaced by Interstate 15.^[3] A portion of the highway's former route in California is currently State Route 91.

Contents 1 Route description 1.1 Utah 1.2 Idaho 2 History 2.1 California 2.2 Nevada 2.3 Arizona 2.4 Utah 2.5 Idaho 2.6 Montana 3 Major intersections 4 See also 4.1 Related routes 5 References

[edit] Route description

Major cities
Los Angeles, California (Until 1973) Las Vegas, Nevada (Until 1974) Salt Lake City, Utah (Until 1974) Logan, Utah Pocatello, Idaho Idaho Falls, Idaho Great Falls, Montana (Until 1980)

[edit] Utah

U.S. 91 begins at Brigham City and winds its way through the Wellsville Mountains using Box Elder and Wellsville Canyons for its path to the Cache Valley. Along the way it passes Mantua and Lake Mantua and passes over Sardine Summit. Once entering Cache Valley it serves as the major thoroughfare of the valley. Logan is the largest city in the valley. Both the Utah and Idaho portions of Cache Valley are part of the Logan Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The Utah section of U.S. 91 is defined at Utah Code Annotated § 72-4-115(1).^[4]

[edit] Idaho

U.S. 91 continues serving the Idaho portion of the Cache Valley with Preston as the largest city. The highway passes by the Bear River Massacre Site, a National Historic Landmark, near Preston. The U.S. 91 corridor in Cache Valley Idaho was the primary filming location for the movie Napoleon Dynamite.

After leaving Cache Valley, the highway then crosses back to rejoin the path of Interstate 15. The remainder of the route is only a short distance from the freeway. U.S. 91 eventually becomes Yellowstone Avenue in Pocatello, but rejoins the I-15 corridor after leaving Pocatello.

[edit] History

At its peak, from 1947 to 1965, U.S. 91 extended from the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach, California to Coutts, Alberta. North of Riverside, California, U.S. 91 mostly paralleled modern I-15. There are some parts where U.S. 91/I-15 had divergent paths. The first is from Littlefield, Arizona to Saint George, Utah where the two routes took different paths through the Arizona Strip. The second is the surviving portion of U.S. 91 from Brigham City to Downey, where Interstate 15 follows an old route of U.S. Route 191.^[5]

Utah first submitted a petition to AASHTO to have the U.S. 91 designation truncated in 1971. This petition was approved on June 21, 1971. However, the state did not take action until 1974. Utah officials co-ordinated a second petition with the transportation departments of California, Nevada and Arizona. In this unified petition officials in Utah proposed the number changeover take place in 1974. Nevada requested postponing the deletion of U.S. 91 as Nevada expected to complete the last piece of I-15 in 1975. Nevada officials suggested U.S. Route 40 be similarly truncated, as this highway largely duplicated Interstate 80 in the same states. Despite Nevada's request, the petition was submitted and approved in 1974. ^[3]

Retracing the path of historic U.S. Route 91 is possible but difficult. In most cities the route of U.S. 91 is still in use as a local street or highway. In many rural areas, I-15 was literally built on top of the former U.S. 91.

The highway passed through the following states:

• California (until 1974)
• Nevada (until 1974)
• Arizona (10 miles (16 km) in the Arizona Strip, until 1974)
• Utah
• Idaho
• Montana (until 1980)

[edit] California

Main article: U.S. Route 91 in California

U.S. 91's original southern terminus was at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue (historically SR 15) and East Pacific Coast Highway (SR 1) in Long Beach. This intersection also marked the historic western terminus of US 6, which proceeded west from that intersection. East of the intersection, U.S. 91 proceeded east along East Pacific Coast Highway to Los Alamitos Circle.

The portions in California were replaced with:

• State Route 1 (from Lakewood Blvd to the center of Long Beach)
• State Route 19 (Lakewood Blvd),
• State Route 214 (deleted --Lincoln Avenue in Orange County and Carson Blvd in Los Angeles County)
• State Route 91
• Interstate 215
• Interstate 15

[edit] Nevada

The route of U.S. 91 in Nevada was replaced with I-15.

In Las Vegas U.S. 91 was better known as Las Vegas Boulevard (NV 604). The intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Fremont Street is the historic intersection with U.S. 93 and U.S. 95. Here, U.S. 466 left U.S. 91 and headed south on Fremont Street with U.S. 93 and 95. At this intersection, U.S. 93 and 95 left Fremont Street and turned north onto Las Vegas Boulevard, heading north with U.S. 91. One block further up, at Bonanza Road, U.S. 95 turned west until it hit Rancho Drive, then continued north. U.S. 91/93 stayed aligned with Las Vegas Boulevard.

Leaving Las Vegas, U.S. 91 followed I-15 to exit 112 (NV 170) to Mesquite (NV 144) and then to Hillside Drive into Arizona, where the road became Fairview Avenue.

[edit] Arizona

U.S. 91 entered Arizona from Nevada on Fairview Avenue and followed it northeast to Littlefield. Once Fairview Avenue crosses I-15, it became Cane Beds Road through downtown Beaver Dam and into Utah, where the road continued as Old Highway 91.

[edit] Utah

From the State Line to Saint George U.S. 91 followed a semi-circular route that is now simply called Old Highway 91. Old Highway 91 continues to Santa Clara and what is now UT 18 to St. George. ^[6]

From St. George to Springville U.S. 91 is in the shadows of I-15. At places the old pavement is visible off to the side of the freeway; at others I-15 was paved over the old U.S. 91.

U.S. 91 first joined U.S. Route 89 in Springville at one of the oldest grade-separated interchanges in Utah (this portion is now Utah State Route 51).^[6] From this junction to Logan the two highways ran mostly concurrent. This portion is mostly intact as U.S. 89.

U.S. 91 did have a unique route between Farmington and Ogden and where U.S. 89/91 split and then rejoined on what is now Utah State Route 126 and Utah State Route 26. These highways form the Main Street through Kaysville and Layton; State Street from the Layton-Clearfield border to Main Street in Clearfield though the city of Sunset turning into 1900 West at the Sunset-Roy border, then following 1900 W to a junction with Riverdale Road in Roy, then following Riverdale Road through Riverdale, and then meeting back up with U.S. 89 at Washington Blvd in Ogden.

[edit] Idaho

U.S. 91 formally entered Idaho Falls along Yellowstone Highway, and returned to the course of modern I-15 north of town. The highway then proceeded north toward Monida Pass where the highway entered Montana. In some small towns streets used by the route are called "Old Highway 91".^[7]

[edit] Montana

In Montana the highway's alignment slightly changed with the construction of the Clark Canyon State Recreation Area. In Dillon the former route of the highway is now known as Atlantic Street and Montana Street.^[8]. North of Dillon I-15 was built on a new alignment. The highway formerly joined with U.S. Route 10 in Butte and formed the main street of Boulder. The highway was routed through Helena along what is now Montana Secondary Highway 518 and Montana Secondary Highway 229.

[edit] Major intersections

County	Location	Mile[9][10]	Junction	Notes
Box Elder	Brigham City	0.000	I-15 – Ogden, Tremonton
		1.965	US-89 south / SR-13 north – Brigham City, Willard
		3.920	SR-90 west – Brigham City	Grade separated interchange, westbound exit, eastbound entrance
	Mantua	5.601	Mantua Road	Grade separated interchange, eastbound exit, westbound entrance
		6.638	500 North
		10.113	Sardine Summit	County line
Cache		12.669	Sherwood Hills Resort
	Wellsville	16.939	SR-23 north – Mendon
		19.177	SR-101 – Hyrum
		23.769	SR-252 north (1000 West)
	Logan	26.651	SR-165 south – Hyrum, Nibley
		26.886	SR-30 west – Tremonton
		27.148	US-89 north – Garden City,Utah State University,Bear Lake
	North Logan	29.819	SR-252 south
	Smithfield	34.021	SR-218 west – Newton
	Richmond	40.004	SR-142 west – Trenton
		43.694	SR-61 west – Lewiston
		45.271	Utah/Idaho State line
Franklin	Preston
		8.389	SH-36 – Weston
		9.265	SH-34 north
Bannock	Downey	37.070	SH-40
		42.452	I-15 – Pocatello, Malad
	Concurrency with I-15
	Pocatello	77.890	I-15
	Chubbuck	80.032	I-86 – Twin Falls, Boise
Bingham		97.052	I-15 – Pocatello, Idaho Falls
	Concurrency with I-15
	Blackfoot	100.700	I-15 – Pocatello, Idaho Falls
Bonneville		122.866	I-15 – Pocatello, Idaho Falls	District boundary- Mileposts reset to 0
	Idaho Falls	4.526	US-26

[edit] See also

• California State Route 91
• Interstate 15

[edit] Related routes

• U.S. Highway 191
• There has never been a US Highway 291 or US-391
• U.S. Highway 491

[edit] References

		edit Main U.S. Routes
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
40	41	42	43	44	45	46		48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59
60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79
80	81	82	83	84	85		87		89	90	91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99
101		400				412				425
Lists		U.S. Routes - Bannered - Divided - Bypassed - Portal

Browse numbered routes
< US-89	ID		US-93 >
< SR-90	UT		SR-92 >