 State Route 143 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Head-Panguitch Lake Scenic Byway Utah's Patchwork Parkway | ||||
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| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byUDOT | ||||
| Length | 51.206 mi[1] (82.408 km) | |||
| Existed | 1933[2]–present | |||
| Tourist routes |  Utah's Patchwork Parkway | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  I-15 inParowan | |||
| East end |  US 89 inPanguitch | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Utah | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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State Route 143 (SR-143) is astate highway in the U.S. state ofUtah. The entire highway has been designated theBrian Head-Panguitch Lake Scenic Byway as part of theUtah Scenic Byways program. This road has also been designated asUtah's Patchwork Parkway as part of theNational Forest Scenic Byway andNational Scenic Byway programs.
At just over 51 miles (82 km) long, it connectsParowan toPanguitch while providing access toBrian Head,Cedar Breaks National Monument, andPanguitch Lake. It is also the second-highest paved road in the state at 10,626 feet (3,239 m) above sea level.
The western section of the road from Parowan started as a logging road for nineteenth centuryMormon pioneers and was designated a state highway in 1933. Twenty years later, the route was extended to Cedar Breaks National Monument, and again in 1985 to its present-day eastern end in Panguitch.
State Route 143 begins atInterstate 15 inIron County just west ofParowan as 200 South and travels through the center of town before turning south intoParowan Canyon.[3] From here, the route climbs past theVermillion Cliffs,[4] named for their reddish color produced byiron oxides.[5] Farther up the canyon, the highway passes by theWhite Cliffs as it entersDixie National Forest, and begins a steep climb up toBrian Head. Thegrade reaches 13% in some places, precipitous enough that travel byRVs orsemi trucks is not recommended.[4]
As the route climbs onto theMarkagunt Plateau at an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 m), it enters the town of Brian Head, Utah's highest incorporated city and the home of Utah's highest ski resort,Brian Head Ski Resort.[6] From the top of this plateau, vistas open up allowing for views of over 100 miles (160 km) in every direction.[7] The area is populated withEngelmann spruces,aspens, andalpine meadows full ofwildflowers. SR-143 continues climbing southward, passing the northern edge ofCedar Breaks National Monument, a naturalamphitheatercanyon eroded out of the western edge of the plateau similarly toBryce Canyon.[5] Here, the route reaches its highest point at 10,626 feet (3,239 m) above sea level, the second-highest paved road in Utah behind theMirror Lake Highway at 10,715 feet (3,266 m).[8] The route turns to the east here, while continuing south leads to the rest of Cedar Breaks National Monument andState Route 148 (theCedar Breaks Scenic Byway).[1]
As the highway heads east, it descends through thick aspen forests interspersed with ancientlava fields.[4] Distant views to the Escalante Mountains,Sevier Plateau, and thePink Cliffs ofPaunsaugunt Plateau are visible to the south and east.[4][7] On this leg of the route, it passes around the south and east sides ofPanguitch Lake, which is popular for summertimefishing as well as winterice fishing.[6] SR-143 continues its descent, heading northeast alongside Panguitch Creek[3][4] as it entersGarfield County and exits Dixie National Forest.[1] The route ends atU.S. Route 89 in the city ofPanguitch,[1] 25 miles (40 km) fromBryce Canyon National Park[9] and just east of the Paunsaugunt Plateau.[10][11]
Archaic hunter-gatherers used this route as far back as theFremont culture (AD 700 – 1300). Evidence of their passage is found along the roadway in the form of rock art.[12] More recently, around the time of European settlement, the area was inhabited by theSouthern Paiute people[12] who used much of theMarkagunt Plateau for hunting and gathering.[13]
The town ofParowan was settled in 1851 byMormon pioneers, who built a wagon road upParowan Canyon to access timber for buildings.[13][14] Eventually, this road extended south toCedar Breaks. In 1919, S. A. Halterman took the first automobile to Cedar Breaks via Parowan Canyon. With improvements to the road completed by 1921, he was able to take visitors on weekly trips to the area.[14]
State Route 143 was first commissioned in 1933 as the road fromParowan to theDixie National Forest boundary.[2] The route was extended in 1953 to reach fromU.S. Route 91 (former State Route 1) in Parowan (Main Street) to the north boundary ofCedar Breaks National Monument,[2] increasing its length to over 17 miles (27 km).[3]
The construction ofInterstate 15 (I-15) in the Parowan area caused the state legislature to twice modify the alignment of SR-143. The first change came in 1968, due to I-15 being constructed to bypass Parowan west of town, rather than following the route of US-91/SR-1 through the center of town. As a result, the state legislature moved SR-1 west onto the interstate alignment while keeping the old alignment in the state highway system. This was accomplished by designating the former southwestern part of SR-1 from I-15 atSummit to Center street in Parowan as a new highway (SR-38) and extending SR-143 through north Parowan up to I-15, incorporating the northwestern part of the former SR-1 alignment.[2]
In 1975, the construction of I-15 was complete, including a second Parowan interchange that had not been in the original plans. This interchange was located west of Parowan, between the Summit interchange to the southwest, and the Parowan interchange to the north. In response, the legislature rerouted SR-143 to connect to the west interchange. Instead of turning north on Main Street, SR-143 now turned south on Main Street for two blocks (coinciding with SR-38) and turned west to reach the new interchange. The two blocks of Main Street overlapping SR-38 were transferred to SR-143, with the remainder of that route deleted and withdrawn from the state highway system. The former route of SR-143 northerly through Parowan was re-designatedSR-274.[2]
The other end of SR-143 has undergone route changes as well. Prior to 1969,SR-55 connectedSR-14 with the southern boundary of Cedar Breaks National Monument. That year, as part of amajor realignment of state highways, SR-55 was deleted and its road was designated as part of SR-143. This left SR-143 as a non-contiguous highway, as the portion going through the national monument was not part of the highway designation.[2]
In 1985, the southern portion of SR-143 between SR-14 and the southern Cedar Breaks National Monument boundary was re-designatedSR-148, andPanguitch Lake Road from the eastern monument boundary toUS-89 inPanguitch was added to SR-143. In this same legislative resolution, there was a provision that the portion of the route alignments inside the boundaries of the national monument would be included as part of the state highway system once theUtah Department of Transportation was granted a right-of-way easement from federal authorities.[2] In 1994, the legislative description of SR-143 was updated to reflect that this easement had been granted. SR-148 still ends at the south boundary of the national monument.[15][16]
The route was designated as aUtah Scenic Byway called Brian Head-Panguitch Lake Scenic Byway in 1989, and as aForest Service Byway called Utah's Patchwork Parkway in 2000.[17] It is also currently being considered for nomination as a federalAll-American Road.[18]
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron | Parowan | 0.000 | 0.000 |  I-15 /I-15 BL –Cedar City,Beaver | Western terminus, also Exit 75 on I-15; western terminus of BL-15 overlap |
| 2.651 | 4.266 |  SR-274 /I-15 BL (Main Street) | East end of BL-15 overlap | ||
| | 10.083 | 16.227 | Dry Lakes Road Scenic Backway | ||
| Cedar Breaks National Monument | 19.230 | 30.948 |   ToSR-148 (Cedar Breaks Scenic Byway) | ||
| Garfield | Panguitch | 51.206 | 82.408 | US 89 (Center Street) | Eastern terminus |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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UDOT agrees that state Route 143, the segment by Cedar Breaks National Monument, is the state's second-highest paved road. It reaches 10,626 feet above sea level.
Media related toUtah State Route 143 at Wikimedia Commons
