State Route 12 or Scenic Byway 12 (SR-12), also known as ''"Highway 12 — A Journey Through Time Scenic Byway"'', is a
state highway
A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...
designated an
All-American Road
A National Scenic Byway is a road recognized by the United States Department of Transportation for one or more of six "intrinsic qualities": archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. The program was established by Co ...
located in
Garfield County and
Wayne County,
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 ...
, United States.
Route description
Proceeding west to east for 122 miles (nearly 200 km), the highway starts south of
Panguitch at an intersection with
US-89
U.S. Route 89 (US 89) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway with two sections, and one former section. The southern section runs for from Flagstaff, Arizona, to the southern entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The northern section ...
, crosses part of
Dixie National Forest and
Bryce Canyon National Park, continues through the small towns of
Tropic
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
,
Cannonville, and
Henrieville. It crosses various parts of
Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument (GS-ENM), continues northeast through
Escalante
Escalante may refer to:
People
*Amat Escalante (born 1979), Mexican filmmaker
*Bernardino de Escalante (born 1537), 16th-century Spanish writer, author of one of the first European books on China
*Enrique Escalante (born 1984), Puerto Rican volley ...
and over the
Escalante River, then over the Hogback, a narrow ridge with no guardrails or shoulders and steep drop-offs on each side. It then proceeds north through more of GS-ENM,
Boulder
In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive.
In c ...
, the
Aquarius Plateau,
Grover, ending in
Torrey at an intersection with
SR-24, five miles (8 km) west of
Capitol Reef National Park. The long portion of the highway that ascends and descends
Boulder Mountain on the Aquarius Plateau is known as Boulder Mountain Highway.
The segment of SR-12 between the US-89 and
SR-63 junctions is part of the
National Highway System.
Traffic volume
The Average Daily Traffic (AADT) on SR-12 is at its greatest at its western junction with US-89, where the count for 2005 was 2,430. At its other end, at the junction with SR-24, the traffic bottoms out at 435.
History
The road from
Bryce Canyon Junction to
Tropic
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
was added to the state highway system in 1914, and in 1923 a branch from
Tropic Junction to
Bryce Canyon was built as a
forest road.
[ Utah Department of Transportation]
Highway Resolutions
, updated September 2007, accessed May 2008 The
State Road Commission numbered the route to Bryce Canyon SR-12 in the 1920s, and in 1927 the state legislature assigned it to both branches, to Bryce Canyon and Tropic, but split off the branch to Tropic as State Route 54 in 1931. That same year, a new State Route 120 was created, continuing the road from Tropic to
Henrieville, and in 1935 it became part of SR-54. Another road was also added to the state highway system in 1914, connecting
SR-22 at
Widtsoe with
Escalante
Escalante may refer to:
People
*Amat Escalante (born 1979), Mexican filmmaker
*Bernardino de Escalante (born 1537), 16th-century Spanish writer, author of one of the first European books on China
*Enrique Escalante (born 1984), Puerto Rican volley ...
,
[ Utah Department of Transportation]
State Route History
. Retrieved July 2007. and it was numbered State Route 23 in 1927. An extension took SR-23 northeast to
Boulder
In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive.
In c ...
in 1941, and in 1947 SR-54 absorbed SR-23, with the Widtsoe-Escalante road dropped in favor of Henrieville-Escalante. State Route 117, running southeast from
SR-24 near
Teasdale to
Grover, became a state highway in 1931, and was extended south to Boulder in 1957, becoming part of SR-54 in 1966.
[ Utah Department of Transportation]
Highway Resolutions
, updated November 2007, accessed May 2008 In 1969, SR-54 became part of SR-12, but most of former SR-117 was dropped, leaving SR-12 to stretch from Bryce Canyon Junction to the north limit of Boulder (at the
Dixie National Forest boundary), with a short spur to Bryce Canyon. This spur became a new
SR-63 in 1975, and in 1985 the route was extended back north from Boulder to SR-24, using a different route than the old SR-117 north of Grover.
[
]
Major intersections
See also
*Paunsaugunt Plateau
The Paunsaugunt Plateau (pronounced "PAWN-suh-gant") is a dissected plateau, rising to an elevation of , in southwestern Utah in the United States. Located in northern Kane County and southwestern Garfield County, it is approximately wide, and ...
Gallery
Image:Escalante_river_2003.jpg,
Image:Highway_12_2005.jpg,
File:Moonrise over Escalante wilderness.jpg,
Image:011107-Red-Canyon,-Utah.jpg,
Image:Hwy_12_Overlook.jpg,
Image:Calfcreek.jpg,
Image:Hells Backbone-Bridge.jpg,
Image:RedCanyonScenicByWay.JPG,
Image:UT12East.jpg,
References
External links
Map and more
from the DOT's American Byways website
State of Utah's website
for the highway
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:State Route 012
Utah State Route 012
Bryce Canyon National Park
Utah State Route 012
Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument
Historic American Engineering Record in Utah
Landmarks in Utah
National Forest Scenic Byways
Utah State Route 012
012 012 may refer to:
* Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car
* The dialing code for Pretoria
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassie ...
012
012 012 may refer to:
* Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car
* The dialing code for Pretoria
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassie ...
012
Tourist attractions in Garfield County, Utah
Tourist attractions in Wayne County, Utah