Utah Route Numbering

Utah's road system consists of interstate routes, US routes, and state routes, numbered according to the statutes contained in Chapter 72 of the Utah Code. Utah does not duplicate route numbers, so, since there is an Interstate with the number 15, there cannnot also be a US route or a state highway numbered 15. The route is defined in the Code as simply "Route 15."

The routes listed in the code can vary from interstate routes which go from border to border all the way down to the test track at the Taylorsville drivers license testing facility (which is numbered U-299).

Utah's earliest route numbering plan, tended to use a "clustering" system for route number assignment. For example, the routes numbered in the teens and 20s were in the southwest corner of the state while the routes numbered in the 40s were in the eastern part of Utah. As the years have passed, new routes have been added, various renumberings and re-routings have taken place, and a whole new numbering system (the Interstates) was introduced, that basic, initial clustering pattern has given way to legislatively assigned numbers, but the remnants of the original system still remain.

Most of the numbered routes serve intercity traffic and are marked with route shields, but a number of them (especially those routes numbered above 300), serve as connections between highways and state parks or boat launching facilities. The effect of this is to give the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) responsibility for maintenance of these segments, as well as control over them.

In urban areas along the Wasatch Front, a number of state routes exist which once connected disparate settlements, but which are now no more than urban city streets with state route numbers and state maintenance. This means that the state has responsibility for paving and plowing these local streets, and it also means that the state has such control that a city cannot close one of the streets for a parade or hang Christmas decorations across the right of way without permission from UDOT.

The 1995 legislature sought to deal with this by proposing that a number of these formerly intercity routes which have become city streets be ceded back to the local governments. That legislature created an interim committee to study the issue and determine which routes met the criteria laid out. "Certain roads function better as state highways; certain roads function better as city streets," said UDOT Director Tom Warne. But the proposals have met with resistance from the Utah League of Cities and Towns, who, although they want more control of the streets within their boundaries, don't want to be saddled with the maintenance bill. So, for now, no great decommissioning or downloading of state routes has taken place, and the state highway system continues to include a great number of roads in Utah, Salt Lake, Davis, and Weber counties which probably should be city streets.

While the battle has been ongoing, seemingly without progress, for a few years now, this issue has raised its head again in Salt Lake City's attempt to prohibit cruising on State Street in its downtown area. The city council approved an ordinance which prohibited any vehicle from passing the same location in the same direction more than three times between 11pm and 4 am, and began enforcement in early July 1999. The problem is, State Street is also US 89, which means that it is under UDOT control, and opponents of the new ordinance contend that the city does not have the power to impose traffic regulations on the street. Much like the speed limit, the city can enforce a UDOT posting, but cannot impose its own.

Aside from the maintenance issue, the highway numbers serve no purpose in the urban areas. In spite of the fact that these routes are clearly signed as state highways, nobody, absolutely nobody, refers to any of the UDOT-maintained city streets by their state highway number. The street names are numbers themselves, so the additional number just adds to the confusion. For example, 1300 East Street carries the U-181 designation from the University of Utah all the way down to the Van Winkle Expressway (about 5100 South). Nobody calls it "U-181;" in fact, I would suggest that, even though the route is marked with U-181 route markers, most people are not aware of its state route number.