Standard state highway markers in Utah
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Highway names | |
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Interstates: | Interstate nn (I-nn) |
US Highways: | US Highway nn (US-nn) |
State: | State Route nn (SR-nn) |
System links | |
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The U.S. state of Utah operates a system of state routes that serve all portions of the state. The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is responsible for maintaining all of the Interstate, U.S. Routes and state highways in the state. UDOT also maintains the Utah Scenic Byways system, which includes National Scenic Byways that travel through Utah. In official documents the state of Utah uses the term "state routes" for numbered, state maintained highways, since the legal definition of a "highway" includes any public road. UDOT signs state routes with a beehive symbol after the state's nickname of the beehive state. There are 3,658.04 miles (5,887.04 km) of state highways in Utah.
The numbers and routes of all Utah highways are assigned by the state legislature, currently documented in Utah Code Title 72, Chapter 4. The code also defines the Utah maintained portions of Interstate and U.S. Highways. With the exception of state route numbers assigned to match U.S. Highways and Interstate Highways, Utah state route numbers are not designated per any consistent pattern, though there are a few regional clusters of sequentially numbered highways.
There were two major changes to the Utah state route system, one in 1969. Since 1969, the block of numbers between 281 and 320 has been reserved for routes serving state institutions and state parks. With a few exceptions, these routes do not have their numbers publicly posted. Prior to the 1977 Utah state route renumbering, several highways had an officially designated route number that did not match the number signed along the highway. Since 1977, the legislative designations do not have any concurrencies. For the situations where two numbered roads share the same physical roadbed, one of the designations will have a discontinuity in the legislative designation. For example, Interstate 84 is defined as a highway with two separate segments in Utah code, the part where I-84 is signed concurrent with Interstate 15 is only legally designated I-15.