State Route 95 or Bicentennial Highway is a state

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-acces ...

located in the southeast of 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 sove ...

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 ...

. The highway is an access road for tourism in the

Lake Powell Lake Powell is an artificial reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation destination visited by approximately two million people every year. It is the second largest artificial reservoir by maximum ...

and

Cedar Mesa Cedar Mesa is a plateau in San Juan County in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It extends from Elk Ridge in the north, Comb Wash to the east, the gorge of the San Juan River to the south, and Grand Gulch to the west, an ar ...

areas, notably bisecting

Bears Ears National Monument Bears Ears National Monument is a United States national monument located in San Juan County in southeastern Utah, established by President Barack Obama by presidential proclamation on December 28, 2016. The monument protects of public land su ...

and providing the only access to

Natural Bridges National Monument Natural Bridges National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located about northwest of the Four Corners boundary of southeast Utah, in the western United States, at the junction of White Canyon and Armstrong Canyon, part of the Colorad ...

. The highway does not serve any cities, but the small town of Hanksville is its western terminus. Although the highway has existed since the 1930s as a primitive dirt road, it received its name at its dedication as a paved state highway coincident with the

U.S. Bicentennial The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event ...

in 1976. The highway forms part of the

Trail of the Ancients The Trail of the Ancients is a collection of National Scenic Byways located in the U.S. Four Corners states of Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. These byways comprise: *The Trail of the Ancients National Scenic Byway in San Juan County, Utah; *The ...

National Scenic Byway.

Route description

It runs west from the junction of

U.S. Route 191 U.S. Route 191 (US 191) is a spur of U.S. Route 91 that has two branches. The southern branch runs for from Douglas, Arizona on the Mexican border to the southern part of Yellowstone National Park. The northern branch runs for from the north ...

(4.3 miles south of the town of Blanding), to the junction of SR-24 in the town of Hanksville. It crosses Cottonwood Wash just west of the US-191 junction; follows and crosses White Canyon; and crosses the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

and the northeast end of

Hite Crossing Bridge The Hite Crossing Bridge is an arch bridge that carries Utah State Route 95 across the Colorado River northwest of Blanding, Utah, United States. The bridge informally marks the upstream limit of Lake Powell and the end of Cataract Canyon of the ...

, near the confluence of the

Dirty Devil River The Dirty Devil River is an tributary of the Colorado River, located in the U.S. state of Utah. It flows through southern Utah from the confluence of the Fremont River and Muddy Creek before emptying into the Colorado River at Lake Powell. Cour ...

, which it crosses just two miles (3 km) later. west of the US-191 junction it meets State Route 261 on

, west of there State Route 275 spurs off to the northwest to

, and it intersects with State Route 276 twice, on either side of Lake Powell. It passes by the now closed Fry Canyon Lodge in Fry Canyon, which opened in 1955 and closed in 2007. Fry's Canyon (also referred to as Fry's Gulch) contained the only gas station between Hanksville and Blanding, but it has since closed and there are no services on the route itself. A seasonal gas station is in operation at the Hite Marina area during the summer months.

History

SR-95 was added to the state highway system in 1935 as a spur connecting SR-47 (now US-191) near Blanding with

. It was extended in 1949, crossing the

Hite Hite or HITE may refer to: *HiteJinro, a South Korean brewery **Hite Brewery *Hite (surname) *Hite, California, former name of Hite Cove, California *Hite, Utah, a ghost town * HITE, an industrial estate in Pakistan See also *''Hite v. Fairfax ...

and continuing to SR-24 at Hanksville. Except for a short piece near Blanding, the road remained

unpaved A road surface (British English), or pavement (American English), is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past, gravel road surfaces, hoggin, cobble ...

through the 1960s. The first major realignment was approved in 1962 and completed in 1966, bypassing the old crossing at Hite, which is now flooded by

, in favor of the new

Utah Department of Transportation The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is an agency of the state government of Utah, United States; it is usually referred to by its initials UDOT (pronounced "you-dot"). UDOT is charged with maintaining the more than of roadway that co ...

Highway Resolutions
, updated November 2007, accessed May 2008 The highway was improved and paved in time for the

in 1976, and has since been known as the Bicentennial Highway.

Major intersections

References

External links

Utah Highways
by Dan Stober {{DEFAULTSORT:State Route 095

095 95 or 95th may refer to: * 95 (number) * one of the years 95 BC, AD 95, 1995, 2095, etc. * 95th Division (disambiguation) * 95th Regiment ** 95th Regiment of Foot (disambiguation) * 95th Squadron (disambiguation) * Atomic number 95: americium *M ...

095 095 095