A dubious endpoint of US 189 in Heber City, UT

Photo credits: Dan Stober; me

(The following info was current as of Oct. 2005; please let me know if you're aware of any changes.)

Internally, the Utah Dept. of Transportation defines US 189 as being concurrent with US 40 north of Heber City, and ending at the same place US 40 does: at I-80 near Park City. Their recent official state highway map reflects this:

2005

There are a few problems with that, though. First, UDoT's actual signage for US 189 doesn't match its route definition. US 189 is not signed anywhere between Heber City and Silver Creek Jct - that entire segment is signed only as US 40. Not only that, but there's also been an "End US 189" assembly in Heber since the early 1990's. Here's what it looked like in the late 1990's:

Stober

That assembly has since been replaced, but modern signage is still explicit that US 189 ends in Heber:

me, Oct. 2005

Historically, US 189 turned left here for an overlay with US 40 through Heber City, and then split away to route through Kamas and Peoa (essentially along what is now U-32, most of which is visible on the map above). That meets I-80 at Wanship, and from there US 189 was concurrent with it to the Wyoming state line, through Evanston, and then up north to Jackson. But when the Jordanelle Reservoir was constructed (see map above), part of old US 189 had to be rerouted to higher ground. When that happened, it seems that UDoT took the opportunity to reroute US 189 such that it heads north with US 40 to Silver Creek Jct, and they renumbered the segment of old US 189 between Heber and Wanship as U-32. But for some reason, instead of signing US 189 as it had been redefined, UDoT instead posted this junction in Heber as the north end of US 189. Apparently UDoT never obtained AASHTO's approval to do any of this - and if they would've tried, AASHTO probably would have rejected the request, because UDoT's action has resulted in two disconnected segments of US 189 (one in Utah and one in Wyoming).

If you believe AASHTO's correct that US 189 is still a single, continuous route from Jackson to Provo, then UDoT screwed up in Heber. But if you believe UDoT can do whatever it wants to with US route designations (as they themselves clearly believe), then US 189 has two discontinuous segments, just like US 422. And if that's the case, you'll like the photo below:

me, Mar. 2001

In Evanston WY, southbound US 189 joins with I-80 and heads for the Utah border. This shot was taken just past the westernmost exit in Wyoming (exit 3, for west Evanston). The UT line is three miles ahead, so - for those of you who side with UDoT - this is the last southbound sign for the "northern segment" of US 189. You can view photos and get info about the "real" endpoints of US 189 on this page.