US Highway 191

map
Basic data
Overall length:	1,624 mi. / 2614 km
Opening:	1926
States:	Arizona Utah Wyoming Montana
Starting point:	AZ 80 in Douglas, AZ
End point:	SK 4 on the border with Canada at Loring, MT

US Highway 191 is an offshoot of US Highway 91 with two unconnected branches. The northern part runs over 708 km from Loring , on the border between the United States and Canada, to the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park . The southern branch is 2,358 km in length and extends from the southern border of Yellowstone National Park to Douglas , Arizona on the border between the United States and Mexico . The highway runs through the states of Montana , Wyoming , Utah and Arizona.

Route

Arizona

US 191 begins in Arizona on the Mexican border in Douglas and runs north to the intersection with Interstate 40 in Sanders on the route of the former US Highway 666 . From Cochise , the highway shares a 20 mile route with Interstate 10 , from Safford for a few miles with US Highway 70 and between Alpina and Saint Johns for 57 miles with US Highway 180 .

Between Springerville and Morenci , the highway is designated as a National Scenic Byway and is called the Coronado Trail Scenic Byway , as this section roughly corresponds to the route that Francisco Vásquez de Coronado took between 1540 and 1542. On this section the road is a dangerous mountain stretch with sharp turns and narrow or missing hard shoulders, and runs along steep slopes. The highway is the main access route to Canyon de Chelly National Monument .

The highway leads over Ganado and Round Rock to Mexican Water, where US Highway 160 is crossed shortly before the state border with Utah .

Utah

US 191 north of Moab , Utah.

US 191 reaches the state of Utah south of Bluff in the Navajo Nation area . In Bluff, US 191 crosses the eastern terminus of US Highway 163 . The route then leads through poorly used area northwards via Monticello and Moab to Crescent Junction. From there, the highway leads westwards with Interstate 70 to Green River , where US 191 and US Highway 8 turn north. Ten miles north of Price , US 191 branches off northeast. Between Duchesne and Vernal , the route runs jointly with US Highway 40 . The route then runs north through the east of the Uinta Mountains and then exits Utah at the Flaming Gorge Reservoir .

In Utah, where the highway approaches three thousand meters above sea level over the Indian Summit at Price and again in the Uinta Mountains, three sections of the route are designated as National Scenic Byways. Between the intersections with US Highway 163 and Utah State Route 95 , US 191 is part of the Trail of the Ancients , between Moab and Vernal part of the Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway and in Vernal the Flaming Gorge-Uintas Scenic Byway begins .

Wilson Arch on US 191

In Utah, US 191 gives access to the following parks and monuments:

• Monument Valley
• Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
• Hovenweep National Monument
• Natural Bridges National Monument
• Capitol Reef National Park
• Canyonlands National Park
• Arches National Park
• Dead Horse Point State Park
• Dinosaur National Monument
• Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area .

Church Rock , a landmark at the intersection of US 191 and Utah State Route 211 .

US 191 leads over the Flaming Gorge Dam .

Wyoming

US 191 passes east of Flaming Gorge reservoir of Wyoming . The route leads over a rugged wasteland along a route that was mostly built in the 1970s to Interstate 80 at Exit 99, just west of Rock Springs . This part of the route is also known in Wyoming as "East Flaming Gorge Road" .

Passing north of Rock Springs, the route runs eastward together with Interstate 80 to Exit 104. US 191 then branches off north and follows the previous route from US 187 via Eden , Farson and Pinedale to the intersection with US 189 in Daniel Junction. Heading further north, the highway runs through increasingly mountainous terrain to the Bridger-Teton National Forest and through the small community of Bondurant before descending through the narrow gorge of the Hoback River. After Hoback Junction, US 191 runs on a common section with US 26 and US 89 along the course of the Snake River to Jackson .

North of Jackson, the route from US 191 reaches Grand Teton National Park on a joint section with US 26 and US 89. In Moran Junction these highways meet US 287 ; US 191, US 89 and US 287 lead northwards together, but are not signposted as highways within the park. Via the John D Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway , the route leads through mountainous, wooded terrain to the south entrance of Yellowstone National Park . No official route from US 191 is signposted within the national park.

Montana

US 191 in Montana begins at the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park, more precisely on the outskirts of West Yellowstone . The highway heads north, coexisting with US 287 for eight miles, before turning slightly east and returning to the national park. It crosses forested, mountainous areas and makes a loop to Wyoming before leaving the national park on the upper reaches of the Gallatin River . The route follows the river through its narrow canyon, past Big Sky to Bozeman . Bozeman is the most populous city on the entire route.

From Bozeman the US 191 runs for 58 miles together with Interstate 90 eastwards to Big Timber , from where the route leads north again. The road leads through hilly pastureland on the eastern edge of the Crazy Mountains to Harlowton , where US 191 shares a short section of route with US Highway 12 . North of Harlowton, US 191 runs 37 miles together with Montana State Route 3 to Eddie's Corner, from where US 191 then heads east to Lewistown , together with US Highway 87 and Montana State Route 200 . The three highways in this section are assigned to three different compass directions; in the direction of Lewistown, US 191 is northward, US 87 is facing south and Montana 200 is facing east.

US 191 then crosses the Missouri River in the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and reaches the Canadian border behind Malta , Montana. The northern end point on the international border is Port Morgan. On Canadian territory, the road runs as Saskatchewan Highway 4 to Swift Current , Alberta .

history

US 191 uses the routes of various former US highways and state routes

Previous route

The route of Highway 191 has changed significantly over the years. The road was lengthened and shortened several times. The original route from 1926 connected Idaho Falls , Idaho with West Yellowstone , Montana, along what is now US Highway 20 . West Yellowstone is the only city that has been on the route since the beginning. Today US 191 is almost ten times as long as the actual trunk line, most of which has been dedicated.

At times, US 191 was linked twice to the trunk line US Highway 91 : in Idaho Falls, Idaho and in Brigham City , Utah. Today the highway has no connection with the main route and no longer runs through Idaho. In Utah, there were two completely different stretches of US 191 in different areas of the state. The original section is now Utah State Route 13 and thus largely a feeder to Interstate 15 .

Expansion in 1982

In 1981, the construction of Interstate 15 and the extension of other highways US 191 had become a stub connecting only West Yellowstone and Malta. Utah and Wyoming lobbied the AASHTO vigorously for a single highway that would connect the various national parks in the two states in order to stimulate tourism. The original proposal was that US Highway 163 should be extended north to Wyoming. Later, however, it was decided to include Arizona in these plans and so US 191 was extended south. Most of the southern section of the route made use of existing highways, although some new sections were built. Upon completion in 1982, US 191 reached Interstate 40 in Arizona.

In Wyoming, US 191 now included the former US Highway 187 , which originally led in 1926 as a branch to US Highway 87W (now US Highway 287 ) in Jackson Lake Junction south to US Highway 30 in Rock Springs . Although US 187 was merged into US 191 as early as 1982, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials still lists the street number in its most recent list (from 1989) as a short, separate stretch of road between Rock Springs and Interstate 80.

The combination of new lines and the upgrading of existing county roads eventually resulted in a more direct connection between Interstate 80 in Wyoming and the Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

Between the state border with Utah and Vernal, US 191 runs largely on an earlier section of Utah State Route 44, and between Duchesne and Helper , US 191 completely succeeds Utah State Route 33 . Between Crescent Junction and the route was previously signposted as US 163, which is now much shorter.

The route was rebuilt from Bluff to the intersection with US 160 in Arizona. US 191 thus reached Arizona for the first time during its existence. Between US 160 and I-40, the highway runs on the former Arizona State Route 63 .

Later extensions

In 1992, Arizona requested a new number for the state portion of US Highway 666 because the street signs with that number were stolen very often. Because of this, US 191 was instead extended to the Mexican border in Douglas, Arizona. When the section between Malta and the Canadian border was added in 1999, US 191 became the last US highway to date to connect the two international borders of the United States. When New Mexico asked for US 666 to be renumbered in 2003 , the remainder of that highway was renumbered as US Highway 491 , with the ending sequence 91 chosen because the northern terminus is at an intersection with US 191 in Monticello, Utah.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Dale Sanderson: End of US highway 191. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 16, 2009 ; Retrieved October 9, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   
2. ^ ^{A b} Andy Field and Kevin Trinkle: US Highway 191. AAroads, accessed October 21, 2012 (English). 
3. ^ Dan Stober: Utah Highways. Archived from the original on February 8, 2008 ; Retrieved July 3, 2008 . 
4. ^ ^{A b} Alan H .: Arizona Roads. Retrieved July 3, 2008 .