 U.S. Route 191 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 US 191 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byUDOT | ||||
| Length | 404.168 mi[1] (650.445 km) | |||
| Existed | 1981–present | |||
| Tourist routes | US 191 fromCrescent Junction throughVernal is part of theDinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway | |||
| NHS | South ofI-70 andconcurrencies with I-70,US 6, andUS 40 | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end |   US 191 /BIA Route 12 towardsMexican Water, AZ | |||
| Major intersections | ||||
| North end |  US 191 towardsRock Springs, WY | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Utah | |||
| Counties | San Juan,Grand,Emery,Carbon,Duchesne,Uintah,Daggett | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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U.S. Route 191 (US 191) is a major 404.168-mile (650.445 km), north–southU.S. Numbered Highway through easternUtah, United States. The present alignment of US 191, which stretches fromMexico toCanada, was created in 1981 through Utah. Previously the route had entered northern Utah, ending atUS 91 inBrigham City, but with the completion ofInterstate 15 it was truncated toYellowstone National Park and re-extended on a completely different alignment. In addition to a large portion ofU.S. Route 163 in Utah (|US 163, this extension absorbed several state routes: the formerUtah State Route 33, most ofUtah State Route 44, and the formerUtah State Route 260.
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US 191 enters Utah onNavajo Nation land and crosses mostly desolate parts of the state. The largest cities served by US 191 areMoab,Green River,Price, andVernal. The highway nears the 10,000-foot (3,000 m) level in 2 places in Utah, overIndian Summit near Price and again while crossing theUintah Mountains near Vernal. It leaves Utah atFlaming Gorge Reservoir. US 191 directly or indirectly serves a number of parks in eastern Utah:Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park,Glen Canyon National Recreation Area,Hovenweep National Monument,Natural Bridges National Monument,Capitol Reef National Park,Canyonlands National Park,Arches National Park,Dead Horse Point State Park,Utahraptor State Park,Dinosaur National Monument, andFlaming Gorge National Recreation Area.
Three portions of US 191 in Utah have been designatedNational Scenic Byways. BetweenU.S. Route 163 andState Route 95, US 191 forms part of theTrail of the Ancients. FromMoab toVernal, US-191 is a portion of theDinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway. TheFlaming Gorge-Uintas Scenic Byway begins at Vernal and follows US 191 toFlaming Gorge. The state has designated the portion fromHelper toDuchesne as the Indian Canyon Scenic Byway, aUtah Scenic Byway.
Three portions of US 191 in Utah have restrictions ontrucks and other large vehicles. Between the junctions with State Routes46 and279, vehicles wider than 15 feet (4.57 m) are required to have two police escorts. Between Vernal and the Wyoming State line, vehicles longer than 95 feet (29 m) are required to have two certified pilot escorts. Vehicles heavier than 20,000 pounds (9,000 kg) peraxle are prohibited onFlaming Gorge Dam.[2]
The independent portions of US 191 south of Interstate 70, as well as theconcurrencies with I-70, US 6, and US 40, are included as part of theNational Highway System.[3]
When US 191 was created in 1926, it did not enter Utah, only running fromIdaho Falls northeast toYellowstone National Park.[4] An extension in the late 1930s brought US-191 south toBrigham City, Utah, following what was thenSR-41 and is now mostlySR-13.[5][citation needed] With the construction ofI-15 parallel to US-191, the latter route was removed from Utah in the early 1970s,[citation needed] and by 1980 it only existed north of Yellowstone.[6]
In cooperation withMontana,Wyoming, andArizona, theUtah Department of Transportation submitted an application to theAmerican Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) for an extension of US-191. In Wyoming, it would replaceUS 187 - a single-state route, which was against current AASHTO policy — and then followWyoming Highway 373 to the state line. The portion in Utah replaced several state routes — State Route 260 from Wyoming toGreendale Junction, the majority ofSR-44 toUS-40 inVernal, and SR-33 from US-40 inDuchesne toUS-6 nearPrice. Afteroverlapping US-6 pastGreen River, the routing followed and replaced a large portion ofUS-163 to a junction southwest ofBluff. Between Bluff andMexican Water, Arizona, US-191 followed a newly constructed road across theNavajo Nation, and then replacedState Route 63, still mostly inside the reservation, toI-40 atChambers.[6] (It has since been continued along formerUS 666 toDouglas on theMexican border.)
The road fromBluff north viaMonticello,Moab, andValley City toThompson (a station on theDenver and Rio Grande Railroad) became a state highway in 1910.[7] To connect this road with the rest of the state highway system, a road from Valley City northwest viaFloy toGreen River was added in 1912, as was a connection from Thompson to viaCisco to Colorado.[8] An extension from Monticello southeast to Colorado was added in 1913,[7] and in the 1920s most of these roadways were assigned numbers:State Route 8 went from Green River via Floy, Valley City, Thompson, and Cisco to Colorado, andState Route 9 began at Valley City and extended south via Moab to Monticello and east to Colorado.[9]
With the creation of theU.S. Highway system in 1926, SR-8 and SR-9 each received a second designation,US-50 andU.S. Route 450 respectively.[4][10] The state legislature redefined all the state routes in 1927, and moved SR-8 to a direct Floy-Thompson cutoff,[11] with both roads from Valley City to Floy and Thompson becoming SR-9.[12] The Monticello-Bluff road was assignedState Route 47 and extended toMexican Hat at that time[13] and to theArizona state line in 1931.[14] TheState Road Commission designated a new alignment of SR-9 to Crescent Junction on SR-8 in 1934, replacing both branches to Floy and Thompsons,[7] and the legislature updated the description in 1935;[15] at that time, US-450 was extended from Valley City to Crescent Junction on the new SR-8 (US-50) cutoff.[16]
Although no significant changes were made to SR-9 or SR-47 after 1935, the signed U.S. Highway numbers changed several times. First, in the late 1930s,U.S. Route 160 replaced US-450, continuing to enter the state east of Monticello and end at Crescent Junction. Then in about 1970,US-163 was designated along the entire length of SR-47 from Arizona to Monticello, and replaced US-160 north to Crescent Junction; at the same time,US-666 was extended fromCortez, Colorado over US-160 to a new terminus at US-163 in Monticello.[citation needed] The1977 renumbering saw the elimination of SR-9 and SR-47, by then no longer signed due to the concurrent U.S. Highway designations. The final change (except for the 2003 renumbering of US-666 toUS-491) came in 1981 when US-191 replaced US-163 north of a junction near Bluff. South of this intersection, US-191 followed a route that did not formerly exist as a state highway. TheBureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) completed this road across theNavajo Nation, andSan Juan County built the short piece north of theSan Juan River, in time for the extension of US-191. After the BIA granted aneasement to Utah for the road, formerlyBIA Route N12 (23) 2&3[citation needed], in 1988, it was added to the state highway system the next year.[6]
The road connectingColton onSR-8 (US-50, nowUS-6) withSR-6 (US-40) inDuchesne became a state highway in 1910. The southwest end was moved from Colton toCastle Gate in 1912,[17] and in 1927 it was numberedState Route 33.[18] Few changes were made to the roadway, and in 1981 it became part of US-191.[17]
The road fromSR-6 (US-40) inVernal north toSR-43 inManila, where one could continue toWyoming, was added to the state highway system in about 1918 as aforest highway project,[19] completed in 1926,[20] and numberedSR-44 in 1927.[21] It was the only state road connectingDaggett County's seat, Manila, with the rest of the state, yet parts remained in anunimproved condition through the 1950s.[22]
Several routes have been designated over the years to connect SR-44 toFlaming Gorge, acanyon on theGreen River that lends its name to theFlaming Gorge Dam that US-191 now crosses the river on. The first was State Route 165, which would have begun at SR-44 south of Manila and headed east to the gorge. The state legislature added the proposed road to the state highway system in 1933,[23] but in 1935 it was deleted, and the number was reused to the west ona portion of Birch Creek Road.[24] Later, in 1941, the planned connection was redesignated as a state highway, this timeState Route 220,[25] but in 1945 it was moved north, closer to the state line.[26]
It was this alignment that was actually built, beginning atLinwood onSR-43 and proceeding east-southeasterly through a valley that is now flooded by theFlaming Gorge Reservoir'sLinwood Bay.[27] SR-220 was deleted in 1957, but in its place was a newState Route 260 that began atGreendale Junction on SR-44 and headed northeast over the dam (then under construction) and to the state line. The legislature did not specify where it would intersect the border,[28] and theState Road Commission initially routed it along former SR-220 to Linwood.[29] However, the law was amended in 1963 to define the north end to be east of the reservoir,[30] and soon the lake began to fill, cutting off the road to Linwood (and inundating that settlement).[31] By 1981 the new road was completed, and most of SR-44 and all of SR-260 were absorbed by US-191.[6]
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Exit | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utah–Arizona line | 0.000 | 0.000 |  US 191 /BIA Route 12 south –Mexican Water,Canyon de Chelly | Continuation into Arizona | ||
| San Juan | | 21.229 | 34.165 |  US 163 south –Mexican Hat,Monument Valley | ||
| Bluff | 25.996 | 41.837 |   SR-162 east | |||
| | 36.438 | 58.641 |  SR-262 | |||
| | 47.255 | 76.050 |  SR-95 –Blanding,Bluff | |||
| Monticello | 71.857 | 115.643 |  US 491 south (Center Street) – Monticello Port of Entry,Cortez | FormerUS 160 east | ||
| | 86.136 | 138.622 |  SR-211 | |||
| La Sal Junction | 103.446 | 166.480 |  SR-46 | |||
| Grand | Moab | 128.180 | 206.286 |  SR-128 | ||
| | 129.798 | 208.890 |  SR-279 | |||
| | 136.733 | 220.050 |  SR-313 | |||
| Crescent Junction | 157.193 | 252.978 |   I-70 /US 6 east (US-50 east) –Grand Junction | I-70 exit 182; south end of I-70/US-6/US-50 overlap | ||
| | 175 | Floy | Exit numbers follow I-70 | |||
| | 164 |    I-70 BL /SR-19 west –Green River | I-70 Bus. not signed southbound | |||
| Emery | | 160 | I-70 BL /SR-19 east –Green River | I-70 Bus. not signed northbound | ||
| |  I-70 /US 50 west –Salina | I-70 exit 157; north end of I-70/US-50 overlap | ||||
| Carbon | Sunnyside Junction |  SR-123 | ||||
| Wellington | Nine Mile Canyon Road | FormerSR-53 | ||||
| Price | 243 |  US 6 Bus. west (SR-55) –Price | Interchange; exit numbers based on US-6 mileage | |||
| 241 |  SR-10 south (Carbon Avenue) | Interchange | ||||
| 240 | US 6 Bus. east (SR-55) –Price | Interchange | ||||
| |     SR-139 north toSR-157 –Spring Glen | |||||
| Helper | US 6 Bus. west /SR-157 (Poplar Street) | |||||
| 232 | US 6 Bus. east (North Main Street) | Interchange | ||||
| | 251.434 | 404.644 | US 6 west –Salt Lake City | North end of US-6 overlap | ||
| Duchesne | Duchesne | 294.847 | 474.510 |  US 40 west (Main Street west) | Southern end of US-40 concurrency | |
 SR-87 north –County Offices,Airport,Altamont | ||||||
| Myton | Nine Mile Canyon Road | FormerSR-53 | ||||
| | SR-87 west –Ioka,Altamont | |||||
| Roosevelt |   SR-121 west (200 North) –Neola | Counterclockwise terminus of SR-121; servesUintah Basin Medical Center | ||||
| Uintah | |  SR-88 south | ||||
| Vernal | SR-121 north (500 West) | Clockwise terminus of SR-121 | ||||
| 352.611 | 567.472 | US 40 east (Main Street east) | North end of US-40 overlap | |||
| | 358.169 | 576.417 |  SR-301 | |||
| Daggett | Greendale Junction | 387.306 | 623.309 |  SR-44 –Manila | ||
| | 404.168 | 650.445 | US 191 north –Rock Springs | Continuation intoWyoming; formerly Wyoming Highway 373 | ||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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8. From Springville southeasterly and from Spanish Fork easterly to mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon, thence southeasterly via Thistle, Soldier Summit, Castle Gate, Price, Soldier Creek Junction, Green River, Floy, Thompson and Cisco to the Utah-Colorado State line near Utaline, Colorado; also from Soldier Creek Junction, Carbon County to Myton, Duchesne county.
9. From Floy southeasterly to Valley City and from Thompson southerly via Valley City, Moab and LaSal Junction to Monticello, thence easterly to the Utah-Colorado State line near Lockerby, Utah.
47. From Monticello southerly via Blanding and Bluff to south side of Mexican Hat bridge.
(47) From Monticello southerly via Blanding, Bluff, and Mexican Hat to the Arizona State line.
Route 9. From Crescent Junction southeasterly via Valley City, Moab, and LaSal Junction to Monticello, thence southeasterly to the Utah-Colorado state line.
33. From Castle Gate northeasterly to Duchesne.
44. From Vernal northerly to Manila.
(165) From the junction with route 44 south of Manila easterly to Flaming Gorge.
Route 165. From a point on the Utah-Wyoming state line, Daggett County, southerly 5 miles.
Route 220. From Route 44 south of Manila easterly to and across Green River at a point near Flaming Gorge — approximately eight miles.
Route 220. From Linwood on route 43 easterly and parallel to the Utah-Wyoming state line approximately five miles to and across Green River.
Route 260. From Route 44 near Greendale northerly via Flaming Gorge dam to the Utah-Wyoming state line at a point either east or west of the Green River.
Route 260. From Route 44 near Greendale northerly via Flaming Gorge Dam to the Utah-Wyoming state line near Spring Creek Gap.
Media related toU.S. Route 191 in Utah at Wikimedia Commons
| U.S. Route 191 | ||
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