Utah State Route 71

State Route 71 (SR-71) is a state highway completely within the Salt Lake City metropolitan area in the northern portion of the U.S. state Utah that runs from SR-154 in the southwest side of the city to SR-186 in Downtown. The route spans 22.47 miles (36.16 km) as it runs along portions of 12600 South, 12300 South, 900 East, and 700 East.

Route description

The highway begins at the intersection of SR-154 (Bangerter Highway) and 12600 South in Riverton and heads east on the latter, a four-lane undivided highway. As the route continues east through suburban Riverton and intersects 1300 West, it gains a center median and turns northeast. The route passes a park and a golf course and crosses over the Jordan River. The road straightens to the east and, moving north three blocks on the Salt Lake County grid position, turns into 12300 South. The highway enters Draper and intersects with I-15 at exit 291, a single-point urban interchange. In between this interchange and Factory Outlet Drive, a concurrency spanning 0.097 miles (0.156 km) with US-89 occurs.^[1] The road continues east through Draper before turning north onto 700 East, a two-lane road. Past Kimballs Lane, the road veers to the west slightly, straightening to its original northerly direction past 11400 South. The route enters Sandy and gains one lane in each direction. A bridge crosses over Dimple Dell Park north of 10600 South. Intersecting with 7800 South, the highway enters Midvale and turns northeast. The road continues in this manner for two blocks, turning into 900 East. A bridge south of Winchester Boulevard crosses over I-215. The route passes Wheeler Farm and enters Murray. The road passes a golf course and intersects at the northern terminus of SR-152 (Van Winkle Expressway). SR-71 turns northwest onto Van Winkle, which in effect turns north and is renamed 700 East, which has four lanes in each direction. The highway continues in the same northerly direction and enters South Salt Lake, intersecting with I-80 at exit 125, a diamond interchange. The road enters Salt Lake City and continues north before entering the eastern fringe of downtown and terminating at SR-186 (400 South).^[2]

History

The state legislature created State Route 71 in 1931, running south from US-40 (2100 South) along 900 East and through Draper, Corner Canyon, and Alpine to US-50/US-89/US-91 (now solely US-89) in American Fork.^[3] However, the portion across the Traverse Mountains between SR-111 (12300 South) in Draper and Alpine was never built, and was removed from the state highway system in 1935; at the same time, the southern piece from Alpine to American Fork was renumbered SR-74.^[4] In 1957, most of SR-71 was moved west two blocks to 700 East, the south end was truncated to 7700 South north of Sandy (replaced by an extension of SR-111), and the north end was extended to SR-181 (South Temple Street).^[5] This change was partially reverted in 1959, when the south end was extended back to Draper over what had just become SR-111.^[6] In 1969, the north end was cut back four blocks to SR-186 (400 South), and the south end was extended west along what had been SR-111 (created in 1931^[7]) to SR-68 (Redwood Road) in Riverton. A short extension west from the south end to the new SR-154 (Bangerter Highway) was made in 2001, pending reconstruction by the state.^[8]

A $4 million construction project at the intersection of SR-71 and State Street (US-89) in Draper will convert the intersection into a Michigan left, where travelers going west on SR-71 would turn north onto State Street then make a U-turn to access southbound State Street. Construction is scheduled to start in early 2011 and should take four months to complete.^[9]

Major intersections

The entire route is in Salt Lake County.

References