Wendover Cut-off

Add links
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Wendover Road" redirects here. For the street in Charlotte, North Carolina, see Charlotte Route 4.

Wendover Cut-off

SR-58 in Wendover
East end I-80 in Knolls
Location
CountryUnited States
StateUtah
CountiesTooele
Highway system
  • Utah State Highway System

The Wendover Cut-off, also called the Wendover Road or Wendover Route, is a two-lane highway in the western part of

Wendover to Knolls across the Bonneville Salt Flats, a part of the Great Salt Lake Desert, the cut-off was once part of the primary link between the Nevada state line and Salt Lake City
. In 2012, between 240 and 250 vehicles used the cut-off near its western terminus in Wendover on an average day.

The first roadway across the Great Salt Lake Desert was completed in 1917 as a single-lane highway. It was added to the Utah

US-50 Alternate (US-50 Alt). Upon the completion of the parallel Interstate 80 (I-80), the previous U.S. Route designations were deleted from the United States Numbered Highway System, and the cut-off was turned over to the county
.

Route description

Near the eastern terminus in 2011

The Wendover Cut-off begins at a T-intersection with

unincorporated community of Knolls. A frontage road continues on the northern side of I-80 after this interchange.[1][5] The land that the cut-off was built upon was once compared to as being "as flat as a billiard table."[6] Unlike more traditional steel or iron culverts, the cut-off uses all timber culverts, as the salt erodes the metal ones too quickly.[7]

Although maintained as part of the Tooele County road network,

average annual daily traffic (AADT), a measure of traffic volume for any average day of the year. In 2012, UDOT calculated between 240 and 250 vehicles used the cut-off near its western terminus. By comparison, traffic on the parallel I-80 between the Nevada state line and Leppy Pass Road (the Bonneville Speedway exit, and the end of Federal Aid Route 2654 on the cut-off) ranges between 6,765 and 7,345 vehicles per day.[9]

History

Western Pacific Railroad in Salduro (1911)

The Western Pacific Railroad line,[10] part of the Feather River Route,[11] that parallels the cut-off was built between 1906 and 1907,[12] filling a causeway with rock and gravel at a great cost.[13] Along the route across the Great Salt Lake Desert, the railroad served the communities of Arinosa, Barro, and Salduro,[14] which were also served by the new road.[15] The Union Pacific Railroad merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the Western Pacific in December 1982.[16]

First roads

Along the cut-off during the 1922 wet season

The

Fish Springs could set fire to tumbleweed, as it could be seen by rescuers up to 20 miles (32 km) away.[17] The original alignment was then routed through various ranches and mining towns such as Callao, Gold Hill, and Ibapah to Ely, and not through Wendover. The "Goodyear Cutoff" was partially constructed in 1919 as a more direct route between Gold Hill and Dugway.[18]

In December 1919, the Utah State Legislature approved the newly constructed single-lane Victory Highway as part of the state's highway system.[19][20] The Victory Highway was a 3,271-mile-long (5,264 km) interstate highway linking New York City to San Francisco, named in honor of those who served during World War I. The road was constructed after $30 thousand (equivalent to $700,000 in 2023)[21] was approved by the legislature, and another $10 thousand (equivalent to $200,000 in 2023)[21] was approved by the Salt Lake City Council in September 1914.[22] Heavy equipment from the nearby Utah-Salduro Company, a potash company,[14] were used during the construction of the single-lane roadway.[20] Tooele County had originally proposed a new gravel road along the salt flats to replace the single-lane highway in 1921; however this was met with resistance from county residents, citing the lack of need.[23]

Current road

Secretary of Agriculture

Bureau of Public Roads commissioner Thomas MacDonald on June 13, 1925.[27] The cost of the road was part of an estimated $1.07 billion (equivalent to $14.8 billion in 2023)[21] 57,063-mile-long (91,834 km) road network across the contiguous United States. The opening ceremony of the highway was held in Salduro.[24] The Engineering News-Record called the road "a remarkable piece of construction."[25]

The Lincoln Highway Association lobbied the U.S. Government to get the Lincoln Highway route to Ely added to the United States Numbered Highway System after the passage of the

Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921,[28] however the Wendover Cut-off along the Victory Highway was selected instead.[29] The Victory Highway Association called the cut-off the "shortest and most feasible route across the Great Salt Lake Desert".[30] The US-40 designation was applied to the Wendover Cut-off on October 20, 1926, the same day the Lincoln Highway Association conceded and approved the routing of the Lincoln Highway along the cut-off, abandoning their southerly route to Ely.[19] The US-50 designation had been applied to the cut-off by 1939,[31] and by 1957 the US-50 designation had given way to US-50 Alt.[32]

In 1959, radiation clouds crossed the cut-off,[33] spreading radiation between Knolls and Wendover from nuclear tests being conducted at the nearby Dugway Proving Ground. Estimates by the Deseret News put the exposure at 215.5 curies (7.97 TBq); by comparison the Three Mile Island accident only released 15 curies (0.56 TBq) of radiation.[34]

During the construction of I-80, the cut-off was identified as a

county road.[8]

Major intersections

The entire route is in Tooele County.

Locationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
SR-58 (Wendover Boulevard) – Wendover, West Wendover, NV
Western terminus; to US 93 Alt. and I-80
​2.64.2Leppy Pass RoadAccess to I-80 and Bonneville Speedway
Salt Lake City
Eastern terminus; roadway continues as Frontage Road
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c Google (December 31, 2013). "Wendover Cut-Off" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  2. ^ Tooele County (Map). 1:29,040. General Highway Map. Utah Department of Transportation. 2005. p. 5. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  3. ^ UPRR Common Line Names (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Union Pacific Railroad. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  4. ^ Tooele County (Map). 1:245,520. Rural Functional Class System. Utah Department of Transportation. February 25, 2010. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  5. ^ Tooele County (Map). 1:29,040. General Highway Map. Utah Department of Transportation. 2005. p. 6. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  6. ^ "A Road of Salt Proposed". Motor Age. 31 (14). Chicago: Class Journal Company: 89. April 5, 1917. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  7. ISBN 9780760313725
    . Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  8. ^ a b Tooele County B Road System (PDF) (Map). 1:224,400. Tooele County GIS. 2006. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  9. ^ Staff (2012). Traffic on Utah Highways (Report). Utah Department of Transportation. pp. 15, 67. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 2, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  10. Clason Map Company
    . 1916. § B4-E4. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
  11. ISBN 9780760341179
    . Retrieved January 5, 2014.
  12. ProQuest 260060707
    .
  13. ISBN 0-8050-7297-7
    . Retrieved January 5, 2014.
  14. ^ a b Daughters, p. 394
  15. OCLC 52950564
    . Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  16. ProQuest 122293933
    .
  17. ProQuest 281315565
    .
  18. ^ Davies, Pete, American Road, Chapter 9 - The Utah Controversy
  19. ^ a b Bateman, p. XV
  20. ^ a b Bateman, p. 15
  21. ^
    Gross Domestic Product deflator
    figures follow the MeasuringWorth series.
  22. ^ Bateman, p. 16
  23. ^ Blanthorn, p. 103
  24. ^
    ProQuest 103526626
    .
  25. ^
    Historic American Engineering Record. National Park Service
    . Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  26. ProQuest 103330497
    .
  27. OCLC 50931182
    . Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  28. ^ Weingroff, Richard (October 17, 2013). "What Is The Longest Road in the United States?". Ask the Rambler: Highway History. Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
  29. ProQuest 288649924
    .
  30. OCLC 7474177
    . Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  31. State Farm Insurance
    . 1939. p. 61. § B6. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
  32. Shell Oil Company
    . 1956. § B7. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
  33. ^ Bateman, pp. XVII
  34. OCLC 8086936
    . Retrieved January 5, 2014 – via ProQuest.
  35. OCLC 10171976
    . Retrieved January 5, 2014.
  36. ^ Staff (November 2008). "State Route 40". Highway Resolutions. Utah Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  37. ^ Staff (November 2008). "State Route 50". Highway Resolutions. Utah Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on October 19, 2007. Retrieved January 2, 2014.

Works cited

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wendover Cut-off.
KML file (edit • help)
Template:Attached KML/Wendover Cut-off
KML is from Wikidata


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wendover_Cut-off&oldid=1185722139"