State Route 202 (SR-202) is a long

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

that serves as a connector, linking SR-201 to

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...

(I-80) in rural

Salt Lake County Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The coun ...

. The road has existed since at least 1937, when it connected U.S. Route 40 (US-40) and

US-50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic O ...

via the Garfield Cut-Off Road. It also serves as the eastbound on-ramp for I-80.

Route description

Located entirely in

Salt Lake County, Utah Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The coun ...

, SR-202 begins at an intersection with SR-201 and 11500 West northwest of

Magna, Utah Magna ( ) is a metro township in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. The current population of the township stands at 29,251 according to the 2020 census, a 10.4% increase over 26,505 in 2010. History Settlement Settlement of the area began ...

. The road travels northwesterly, bordered on the east by a large

tailing pond In mining, tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different to overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overlie ...

owned by

Kennecott Utah Copper Kennecott Utah Copper LLC (KUC), a division of Rio Tinto Group, is a mining, smelting, and refining company. Its corporate headquarters are located in South Jordan, Utah. Kennecott operates the Bingham Canyon Mine, one of the largest open-pit co ...

and part of the former

Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south from De ...

rail line, which is now owned by the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

(UP). The parallel rail line intersects a pair of east–west rail lines, the southern line being UP main line, and the northern line being the

Feather River Route The Feather River Route is a rail line that was built and operated by the Western Pacific Railroad. It was constructed between 1906 and 1909, and connects the cities of Oakland, California, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The line was built to compete ...

of the former

Western Pacific Railroad The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...

, which is now owned by UP. After crossing the rail lines, SR-202 intersects with I-80 near the Great Salt Lake State Park and comes to a terminus at the I-80 frontage road, which provides access to the Great Salt Lake State Park and to the Saltair resort. Kennecott Utah Copper owns all of the land surrounding SR-202, except for the

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

for the railroad, and the highway itself. SR-202 serves as the eastbound ramp from SR-201 onto Interstate I-80, because at its intersection with I-80, the SR-201 (which is the southern terminus of SR-202) traffic only has the option to continue on I-80 westbound, and does not have an offramp to eastbound I-80. Traffic on SR-202 has increased 12% between 2002 and 2007, with a daily average of 735 cars per day using SR-202 in 2007, compared to 475 cars per day in 2002. Half of the traffic on SR-202 consists of buses and trucks.

History

Two other roads have been designated Utah State Route 202 in the past. From 1939 to 1953, the name was used by the road that formed the eastern approach to

Mercur, Utah Mercur is a historical hard rock mining ghost town in Tooele County, Utah, United States. In 1891, it became the site of the first successful use of the cyanide process of gold extraction in the United States, the dominant metallurgy today. Its e ...

and later became part of SR-73. From 1961 to 1967, the name was used by Main Street between SR-201 (2100 South) and SR-171 in downtown Salt Lake City, which is now part of

Utah State Route 186 State Route 186 (SR-186) is a state highway entirely within Salt Lake City, capital of the U.S. state of Utah. It forms a quarter-beltway connecting US-89 and I-15 leading north from Salt Lake City to I-80 leading east; as such, it effectively ...

. The road that currently carries the SR-202 designation has existed since 1937, when it connected US-40 and US-50 along the Garfield Cut-Off Road. The

Utah State Legislature The Utah State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. It is a bicameral body, comprising the Utah House of Representatives, with 75 state representatives, and the Utah Senate, with 29 state senators. There are no term li ...

designated the road SR-202 in 1969, thus taking responsibility of maintaining the road from the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

. No changes or alterations have been made to SR-202, except for the legal definition of the road, which has changed twice since it was formed. On September 26, 2008, a

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

spill occurred, reported by people in vehicles traveling on Interstate 80. In 2015, as part of a federal-aid project, a

traffic signal Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traffic. Traffic light ...

was installed at the junction with SR-201, which was moved slightly to the west; as a result, the south end of SR-202 was realigned, resulting in a net loss of approximately of state highway mileage.

Major intersections

The entire route is in

Gallery

File:North at intersection of SR-201 & SR-202, Mar 16.jpg, Looking north at the intersection of Utah State Route 201 and Utah State Route 202 (the southern terminus of SR-202), March 2016 File:Northwest at I-80 & SR-202 interchange, Mar 16.jpg, Looking northwest at the Interstate 80 and Utah State Route 202 interchange (the northern terminus of SR-202) with Stansbury Island, the Great Salt Lake, and Saltair in the background, March 2016 File:South at intersection of SR-201 & SR-202, Mar 16.jpg, Looking south at the intersection of Utah State Route 201 and Utah State Route 202 (the southern terminus of SR-202) with the snow covered Oquirrh Mountains in the background, March 2016 File:Northwest at Saltair, Utah, Mar 16.jpg, Looking northwest from Utah State Route 202 across Interstate 80 at Saltair, Utah, March 2016

References

External links

Utah Highways page
{{DEFAULTSORT:State Route 202 202

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