Mountain View Corridor

Summary

The Mountain View Corridor is a freeway under construction in northern Utah that will run along the western periphery of Salt Lake County and south into northwest Utah County. Except for the last several miles on its southern end the Mountain View Corridor is numerically designated as State Route 85 (SR-85)[1] in the Utah state highway system. The entire Mountain View Corridor will be maintained by the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT).

State Route 85 marker

State Route 85

Mountain View Corridor
Mountain View Corridor in red at full build-out
Route information
Maintained by UDOT
Length35 mi (56 km)
Major junctions
South end SR-73 in Saratoga Springs
Major intersections I-15 in Lehi
SR-48 in West Jordan
SR-173 in West Valley City
SR-171 in West Valley City
SR-201 in West Valley City
North end I-80 in Salt Lake City
Location
CountryUnited States
StateUtah
Highway system
  • Utah State Highway System
I-84 SR-86

Route description edit

Mountain View Corridor is an arterial road that runs roughly parallel to Bangerter Highway (SR-154) one to four miles to the west, built to meet the demand of the growing cities in western Salt Lake and Utah counties. It starts at SR-73 in Saratoga Springs and runs north to a junction with a spur of the roadway that runs east to Interstate 15 in Lehi. The spur, designated as 2100 North, also carries the SR-85 designation.

From the junction at 2100 North, the Mountain View Corridor will continue north through Camp Williams into Salt Lake County, running west of Redwood Road (SR-68). Just north of Camp Williams it will curve northwest until it reaches Porter Rockwell Boulevard in Bluffdale. Porter Rockwell Boulevard is a non-freeway spur of the Mountain View Corridor that runs east to connect with Redwood Road (SR-68) at about 16000 South. It currently serves as the initial access to the southern end of the Mountain View Corridor until portions south of this point are completed.

From Porter Rockwell Boulevard it continues northwest to 13400 South at about 4800 West in Riverton and then continues north again to 12600 South. From 12600 South it curves northwest again, crossing Daybreak Parkway (at about 11700 South) in Daybreak—a neighborhood of South Jordan—to the Old Bingham Highway (at about 10200 South) in West Jordan, and then curves slightly back to the northeast until it reaches 9000 South just west of 5600 West.

From 9000 South it heads north, crossing over 8200 South, until 7800 South where it curves northwest to 7000 South at about 6400 West. From 7000 South it proceeds north, crossing 6200 South, to 5400 South (SR-173). From 5400 South it curves northeast again until it reaches 4100 South in West Valley City at about 5700 West and heads north again, crossing 3500 South (SR-171), to a junction with SR-201.

From SR-201 it continues north to California Avenue in Salt Lake City. From California Avenue it will finally curve northwest once again before ending at a junction with Interstate 80 at about 6100 West in Salt Lake City (a few miles west of the Salt Lake City International Airport).

Construction edit

Phases edit

Plans call for three phases of construction. Upon final completion, the freeway will have five lanes in each direction, including a high-occupancy/toll (HOT) lane. Some sections will also include two-lane frontage roads on both sides of the freeway.

Phase One includes constructing either the outside lanes or two one-way frontage roads for each section of the entire length of the Mountain View Corridor, but not all at the same time. Phase One construction is being completed on the various sections as the need exists and funding permits. For the "outside lanes" sections the two outside lanes of the freeway are built in each direction. At each future interchange the roadways curve out to the edges of the right of way where future off-ramps of the freeway will be, creating two one-way intersections. For the "frontage roads" sections, two one-way frontage roads will be on either side of the planned freeway lanes. Two one-way intersections will also be created at each future interchange, just as they will be for the "outside lanes" sections, except that the future off-ramps and on-ramps will connect with the frontage roads prior to and after the interchanges, respectively. (Such frontage roads and interchanges are often referred to as Texas style.) Frontage roads will be built between Old Bingham Highway and Porter Rockwell Boulevard, as well as the 2100 North spur. The remaining sections will have the outside lanes built in Phase One.

Phase Two is where the actual freeway is constructed as needs require and funding permits. By building either the outside lanes or frontage roads in the unique manner that has been done in Phase One preserved space in the middle to build overpasses and the actual freeway lanes themselves where only the frontage roads were constructed. Also, having been built the way they were, there will be minimal traffic interruption while Phase Two is completed.

Phase Three will widen the freeway from two lanes to five in each direction (with one of those lanes provisioned as an HOT lane), again as the need exists and funding permits.[2]

In mid-2010, Utah County planners discussed future plans for a freeway in Utah County from Lehi to Santaquin along the west side of SR-68 west of Utah Lake. It has been speculated that this could become part of the Mountain View Corridor project.[3]

The first sections of Mountain View Corridor opened for traffic in a design of separated two lane carriageways with signal controlled at-grade split intersections, to be upgraded later.

Implementation edit

The environmental impact statement for the freeway was completed in November 2008,[4] leaving funding for the highway as the biggest remaining obstacle. Previous proposals included raising the state fuel tax or tolling the new road as a public/private partnership, an issue that became highly contentious.[5] Ultimately, the state legislature decided to issue bonds to fund the freeway, thereby committing future tax receipts to pay for it.[6] The first phase of construction began in mid-2010 and finished by December 15, 2012.[7][8]

Construction on the spur that runs along 2100 North in Lehi's street grid and will connect the eventual freeway with Interstate 15 began in late 2010. This spur, which initially travels as far west as Redwood Road (SR-68), opened September 24, 2011.[9][10] During Phase Two, this spur will be extended further west to the future freeway.

Construction on two miles of frontage roads in Herriman between Rosecrest Drive and 12600 South has been completed and this portion opened for traffic on June 2, 2012. An additional seven miles of frontage road is nearly complete and is anticipated to be open for use on October 13, 2012. These additional portions are will extend the usable roadway from Porter Rockwell Boulevard in Bluffdale north to the Old Bingham Highway in West Jordan. Six more miles of frontage road further north are also anticipated to be completed in late 2012. By the end of 2012 a total of fifteen miles of Phase One frontage roads, extending from Porter Rockwell Boulevard north to 5400 South in West Valley City, will be open for use, as well as associated bike lanes and trails.[11] In 2016 the access to 5400 South (SR-173) completed, and construction continued northbound.[12]

While no specific time table has been given by UDOT for the remainder of the overall project, it is anticipated to be fully completed by 2030.[11]

Progress edit

As of 2021, Mountain View Corridor is entirely in Stage 1 of the construction plan. Funding has been given to convert the segment running from Porter Rockwell Boulevard to Old Bingham Highway to a Stage 2 Freeway. The entire roadway that is currently built extends from Redwood Road (SR-68) to California Avenue. The section between 5400 South and 4100 South opened on November 18, 2017, at 3:00 pm. Opening celebrations included a fun run, an ugly sweater competition, and ceremonies where the Mayor of West Valley City spoke.[13] In October 2019, another portion in Utah County opened to traffic, connecting SR-73 and Pioneer Crossing (SR-145) to Redwood Road and 2100 North (SR-194).[14] The next section of Mountain View Corridor in Salt Lake County (4100 South to California Avenue) opened to traffic on June 17, 2021.[15][16]

The segment between California Avenue and Interstate 80 is currently unfunded, and it is unknown when it will be completed. In September 2021, funding was allocated to build the Phase 1 iteration of the segment running from 2100 North to Porter Rockwell Boulevard. Until the 2100 North to Porter Rockwell segment of the corridor is built in 2023, SR-85 will be routed along a concurrency with SR-68 between those roads.

Exit list edit

This following table lists the interchanges of the Mountain View Corridor at full build-out.

CountyLocationmi[17]kmExitDestinations[18]Notes
UtahSaratoga Springs0.0000.000Foothill Boulevard southContinuation south beyond southern terminus
 
 
SR-73 west (Cory B. Wride Memorial Highway)
 
 
SR-145 east (Pioneer Crossing)
Southern terminus
0.8141.310Harvest Hills Boulevard
Lehi2.9774.791 
 
SR-194 east (2100 North)
Temporary gap in route along SR-68 (Redwood Road); gap is signed as both SR-68 and SR-85; Gap to start construction in Spring 2023
Salt LakeBluffdale3.5285.678 
 
SR-131 east (Porter Rockwell Boulevard)
5.7599.268Real Vista Drive
6.56510.565Rosecrest Drive
Riverton7.90512.72213400 South
HerrimanRiverton line8.91614.34912600 South
HerrimanSouth Jordan line9.96816.04211800 South
South Jordan10.26016.512Daybreak Parkway
11.33018.234South Jordan Parkway
West Jordan12.46120.054Old Bingham Highway
13.91722.397  SR-209 (9000 South)
15.45424.8717800 South
West Valley City17.65228.4086200 South
18.65830.027  SR-173 (5400 South)
20.83933.5374100 South
21.85335.169  SR-171 (3500 South)
22.86136.79123Parkway BoulevardInterchange; southbound entrance and northbound exit
West Valley CitySalt Lake City line23.90138.46524  SR-201 (2100 South Freeway)
Signed as exits 24A (east) and 24B (west) northbound; no southbound access to SR-201 east
Salt Lake City24.89240.060California AvenueCurrent northern terminus
  I-80Future northern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References edit

  1. ^ "State Routes in Region 2". Utah Department of Transportation. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
  2. ^ "Lehi, UDOT compromise on corridor". Deseret Morning News. Salt Lake City. Archived from the original on June 2, 2008. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
  3. ^ Utah County planners seek to avoid Lehi-like traffic woes. Deseret Morning News. May 11, 2010.
  4. ^ "Feds approve Mountain View Corridor". Daily Herald. Provo. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
  5. ^ "Foes of Mountain View toll road form group". Deseret Morning News. Salt Lake City. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
  6. ^ "Huntsman signs state transportation project bills". Daily Herald. Provo. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
  7. ^ "Salt Lake County construction project". Utah Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved September 12, 2011.
  8. ^ "MountainView Corridor Construction". Utah Department of Transportation. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  9. ^ "Construction on Mountain View Corridor finally underway". KSL. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
  10. ^ "2100 North: One-way gets you there better". Utah Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on September 24, 2011. Retrieved September 12, 2011.
  11. ^ a b "Mountain View Corridor". Utah Department of Transportation. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  12. ^ Google Earth and Street View, retrieved March 2017
  13. ^ "UDOT completes 2.2-mile expansion of Mountain View Corridor". KSTU. November 18, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
  14. ^ "UDOT opens new three-mile extension of Mountain View Corridor". ABC 4 News. October 26, 2019. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  15. ^ "Home Page - June 2021 Opening Event - UDOT Mountainview Corridor". Utah Department of Transportation. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
  16. ^ Vaifanua, Tamara (June 18, 2021). "UDOT opens new section of Mountain View Corridor from 4100 South to SR 201". ksl.com. Salt Lake City: Deseret Digital Media. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  17. ^ "Highway Reference: 0085P" (PDF). drive.google.com. Utah Department of Transportation. April 27, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2021 – via Highway Reference Information. {{cite web}}: External link in |via= (help)
  18. ^ "Mountain View Corridor". Utah Department of Transportation. Retrieved June 22, 2021.

External links edit

  • Mountain View Corridor Official Site
  • Utah Department of Transportation