Interstate 80 | ||||
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Route information | ||||
Defined by Utah Code §72-4-113 | ||||
Maintained by UDOT | ||||
Length: | 196.35 mi[1] (315.99 km) | |||
Existed: | 1956 – present | |||
Major junctions | ||||
West end: | I-80 in West Wendover, NV | |||
I-15 in Salt Lake City US-89 in Salt Lake City US-40 / US-189 near Park City I-84 in Echo |
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East end: | I-80 / US 189 towards Evanston, WY | |||
Highway system | ||||
Main route of the Interstate Highway System State highways in Utah
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In the U.S. state of Utah, Interstate 80 (I-80) runs 196 miles (315.4 km) east–west through northern part of the state, passing through the Bonneville Salt Flats, the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, the Wasatch Mountains and Echo canyon. In western Utah the highway was built along the corridor of the Victory Highway, U.S. Route 40 and the Feather River Route. In eastern Utah the highway was built along the corridor of the Lincoln Highway and the Mormon Trail. The easternmost section also follows the historical routes of the First Transcontinental Railroad and U.S. Route 30S. The section of I-80 between Redwood Road and the Salt Lake International Airport was the last piece of the transcontinental freeway to open to traffic.
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The freeway enters Utah in the town of Wendover on the edge of the Bonneville Salt Flats. The highway closely follows the historical routes of the Wendover Cutoff of the Victory Highway and the ex-Western Pacific Railroad's Feather River Route (now part of the Central Corridor) across the salt flats and the larger Great Salt Lake Desert.[2] In the middle of the salt flats a concrete sculpture, Metaphor: The Tree of Utah, stands just off the westbound lanes of I-80.[3] The freeway arrives at the southern shore of the Great Salt Lake and closely follows the southern shore towards the western suburbs of Salt Lake City. However, the historical routes from which the route of I-80 was derived were routed farther away from the lake, passing through the towns of Grantsville and Tooele before crossing a bottle neck between the Oquirrh Mountains and the Great Salt Lake. While traversing the neck, I-80 features a view area with views of both the Lake and Antelope Island. After passing the neck the road forks with I-80 proceeding towards the north end of Salt Lake City and State Route 201 proceeding towards the south end. Historically, this intersection was the separation of U.S. Route 40 and U.S. Route 50. After the intersection the freeway corridor is again bottlenecked with the Great Salt Lake to the north and the Kennecott Utah Copper smelter and tailings pond to the south. Visible in the distance is the Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Mine, at one time the largest manmade excavation and the Kennecott Smokestack, one of the tallest freestanding structures in the United States. Along this portion the freeway passes the historical site of the Saltair resort.
The freeway enters the Salt Lake City Metro area on the former alignment of North Temple Street until passing the Salt Lake International Airport where the freeway veers slightly south departing the North Temple Street corridor which leads to Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake. I-80 merges with Interstate 15 for about 3 miles (4.8 km) passing along the western and southern edge of downtown Salt Lake. After separating from I-15, the freeway loosely follows an alignment just south of 2100 South towards Parley's Canyon, here joining the historical route of the Lincoln Highway. The freeway ascends Parley's Canyon as a six-lane freeway to an elevation of 7,120 feet (2,170 m) at Parley's Summit, and passes just north of Park City. Upon reaching the Rockport Reservoir at Wanship the freeway turns north, following the tributaries of the Weber River toward Echo Reservoir and dam. Upon reaching Echo Canyon, the freeway follows the canyon east until the Wyoming state line near Evanston. The portion through Echo Canyon follows the historical routes of the Mormon Trail, U.S. Route 30S and the First Transcontinental Railroad. A rest area in the canyon, just east of the separation with Interstate 84, features signs pointing out features in the canyon that were obstacles in the canyon for both the Mormon pioneers and the construction workers of the railroad, including Pulpit Rock, which was partially demolished when the railroad was converted to double track.
Interstate 80 follows the routes of two major auto trails through the state. In western Utah, I-80 follows the historical route of the Victory Highway from the Wendover at the Nevada state line to the junction of U.S. Route 40 near Park City.
Throughout Utah, I-80 is signed as the modern route of the Lincoln Highway, except through Salt Lake City, where the Lincoln Highway is routed along State Route 201 and Parley's Way. The route of the Lincoln Highway across Utah was generally derived from the route of the Pony Express and the Central Overland Route. However west of Salt Lake City, the original route of the Lincoln Highway is un-drivable. The original route of the Lincoln Highway proceeded southwest from Tooele towards Ely, Nevada. This area is now used for military bases such as the Dugway Proving Ground and Tooele Army Depot. When these bases were formed the area was closed to the public. Interstate 80 in Utah and U.S. Route 93 in Nevada are the modern signing of the Lincoln Highway between those two cities. East of Salt Lake, I-80 closely parallels the original route of the Lincoln Highway.[4][5]
From 1926 until the 1970s, all of the modern I-80 corridor was signed as U.S. Highways. From the state line at Wendover to Park City I-80 replaced U.S. Route 40. From Park City to Echo I-80 replaced a what was originally numbered U.S. Route 530, and U.S. Route 30S from Echo to the Wyoming state line. The US-530 designation was replaced with U.S. Route 189.[6][7][8]
Interstate 80 was constructed in segments, starting in the 1950s. By the late 1970s the Utah portion of I-80 was largely complete, except for a gap on the western edge of Salt Lake City. A 5 miles (8.0 km) section between Redwood Road and the Salt Lake International Airport holds the distinction of being the final link of Interstate 80 to be completed. This section was dedicated on August 22nd, 1986. This coincidentally was close to the 30th birthday of the Interstate Highway System, which was noted at the dedication and considered to be a milestone in the history of highway construction in the United States. It was also noted at the dedication that this was only 50 miles (80 km) from Promontory Summit, where the golden spike of the United States First Transcontinental Railroad was laid.[9][10]
Reconstruction of I-80 began in August 2007, from State Street (US-89) east to 1300 East (former SR-181). Dubbed "Innovate 80," phase one of the project involved temporarily widening bridges on the eastbound side of the freeway to accommodate five lanes (three lanes in one direction and two in the other). The center lane was made reversible so there would be three westbound lanes during the morning commute and three eastbound lanes during the evening commute. Phase two began December of that same year, reconstructing the westbound lanes and replacing the bridges. The bridges were all constructed in advance and then moved to their respective positions, beginning with the Highland Drive bridge, the 900 East bridge, the 700 East bridge, the 600 East bridge, the 500 East bridge, the 300 East bridge, and the 700 East ramp, which extends over 600 East. The westbound bridge moves were completed July 31.
Phase three began in October 2008, involving the eastbound lanes and bridges being reconstructed from 700 East to 1300 East (traffic traveled on the new pavement on the north side of the freeway). However, the bridges on the eastbound lanes were replaced with the traditional manner, constructing them on the spot of where they would lay. With the project's completion in November 2009, there are now five lanes in each direction (one of those being an auxiliary lane in between exits) compared to three lanes prior to 2007. As part of the project, sound walls were added, grade-level signage was replaced with overhead signs, on- and off-ramps were lengthened, and the State Street bridge received a bridge deck replacement, as opposed to a new bridge.[11][12][13]
County | Location | Mile[14] | Exit | Destinations | Notes |
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Tooele | Wendover | 0.043 | 1 | To SR-58 – Wendover | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
1.484 | 2 | I-80 Bus. west / SR-58 – Wendover | Westbound entrance is via a U-turn at exit 4 | ||
3.993 | 4 | Bonneville Speedway | |||
41.278 | 41 | Knolls | |||
48.940 | 49 | Clive | |||
56.195 | 56 | Aragonite | |||
61.837 | 62 | Military Area, Lakeside | |||
69.521 | 70 | Delle | |||
76.402 | 77 | SR-196 – Rowley, Dugway | |||
83.358 | 84 | SR-138 – Grantsville, Tooele | |||
88.395 | 88 | Grantsville | |||
98.619 | 99 | SR-36 – Stansbury, Tooele | |||
Salt Lake | 101.544 | 102 | SR-201 east (2100 South) – Magna, West Valley City | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | |
104.273 | 104 | SR-202 / Saltair Drive | |||
Salt Lake City | 111.287 | 111 | 7200 West | ||
113.276 | 113 | 5600 West (SR-172) | |||
114.336 | 114 | Wright Brothers Drive | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
115.374 | 115 | Bangerter Highway (SR-154) – Salt Lake City International Airport | Signed as exits 115A (Airport) and 115B (Bangerter Highway) westbound; no westbound exit or eastbound entrance at North Temple | ||
116.488 | 115 | North Temple – City Center, Temple Square | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; former SR-186 | ||
117.262 | 117 | I-215 – Ogden, Provo | |||
117.862 | 118 | SR-68 (Redwood Road) | |||
119.591 | 120 | I-15 north – Ogden | West end of I-15 overlap; no exit number westbound | ||
121 | 600 South (SR-269 east) – Temple Square | Signed as exit 306 westbound | |||
122 | 900 South (SR-270 north) | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |||
122 | 1300 South | Signed as exit 305C eastbound | |||
122 | 2100 South (SR-201) | Signed as exit 305B eastbound | |||
South Salt Lake | |||||
123A | SR-201 west – West Valley | Signed as exit 305A eastbound | |||
122.028 | 123B | I-15 south – Las Vegas | East end of I-15 overlap; no exit number eastbound | ||
123.231 | 124 | US-89 (State Street) | |||
Salt Lake City | 124.125 | 125 | SR-71 (700 East) | ||
125.072 | 126 | 1300 East – Sugar House | Former SR-181 | ||
126.785 | 127 | 2300 East – Holladay, Millcreek | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; former SR-195 | ||
127.039 | 128 | I-215 south (Belt Route) | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
127.685 | 129 | SR-186 west (Foothill Drive) / Parleys Way | |||
128.619 | 130 | I-215 | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
129.888 | 131 | Quarry Exit | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
130.399 | 131 | (No name) | No eastbound exit | ||
131.869 | 132 | (No name) | |||
132.583 | 133 | (No name) | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
133.665 | 134 | SR-65 north East Canyon | |||
136.113 | 137 | Lambs Canyon | |||
Summit | 139.413 | 140 | Parley's Summit | ||
141.815 | 141 | Jeremy Ranch | |||
142.847 | 144 | View Area | Eastbound exit and entrance | ||
144.198 | 145 | SR-224 south – Kimball Junction, Park City | |||
146.876 | 146 | US-40 east (US-189 south) – Heber, Vernal, Provo | West end of US-189 overlap | ||
150.724 | 150 | Tollgate Promontory | |||
Wanship | 154.972 | 155 | SR-32 south – Wanship, Kamas | ||
Coalville | 162.592 | 162 | Coalville (SR-280) | ||
165.005 | 166 | View Area | No access across I-80 | ||
167.324 | 168 | I-84 west – Ogden | |||
167.781 | 169 | Echo | |||
169.505 | 170 | Rest Area | No access across I-80 | ||
178.703 | 178 | Emory | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
184.126 | 185 | Castle Rock | |||
187.767 | 187 | Ranch Exit | |||
191.690 | 191 | Wahsatch | |||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi |
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Interstate 80 | ||
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Previous state: Nevada |
Utah | Next state: Wyoming |
Lincoln Highway | ||
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Previous state: Nevada |
Utah | Next state: Wyoming |