State Route 190 (SR-190) or the Big Cottonwood Canyon Scenic Byway is primarily an east and west

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 Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

and

scenic highway A scenic route, tourist road, tourist drive, scenic byway, or holiday road is a specially designated road or waterway that travels through an area of natural or cultural beauty. It often passes by scenic viewpoints. The designation is usually det ...

in eastern

Salt Lake County Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The co ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, United States, that begins at Interstate 215 (I-215), runs through

Big Cottonwood Canyon Big Cottonwood Canyon is a canyon in the Wasatch Range southeast of Salt Lake City in the U.S. state of Utah. The -long canyon provides hiking, biking, picnicking, rock-climbing, camping, and fishing in the summer. Its two ski resorts, Bright ...

(including the Brighton Loop), and ends at the Salt Lake and Wasatch county line.

Route description

Holladay and Cottonwood Heights

SR-190 begins at a

single point urban interchange A single-point urban interchange (SPUI, or ), also called a single-point interchange (SPI) or single-point diamond interchange (SPDI), is a type of highway interchange. The design was created in order to help move large volumes of traffic t ...

with I-215 (though the rightmost lane of the eastbound off-ramp actually leads to 3000 East instead of SR-190) and the road curves to the south as it climbs from the Knudsen's Corner lowlands near

Big Cottonwood Creek Big Cottonwood Creek is located in the Wasatch Mountains just east of Salt Lake City. It is part of the Big Cottonwood Creek Watershed, which ranges in elevation from 5,000 to 10,500 feet with the headwaters around 9,600 feet. The creek flows thr ...

to run first along the bottom of the south-facing mountainside leading up to

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (, , ) is an extensive massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, between the regional units of Larissa (regional unit), Larissa and Pieria (regional ...

to the north and then along the west-facing mountainside just north of Big Cottonwood Canyon's mouth. The border between the cities of

Holladay Holladay is a city in central Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area and abuts the Wasatch National Forest. The population was 31,965 at the 2020 census, a significant incr ...

and

Cottonwood Heights Cottonwood Heights is a city located in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States, along the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley. It lies south of the cities of Holladay and Murray, east of Midvale, and north of Sandy within the Salt Lake City, U ...

loosely follows the route until the intersection with Wasatch Boulevard. North of Wasatch Boulevard, the route passes several office buildings, the Old Mill Golf Course, and a

Utah Transit Authority The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) is a special service district responsible for providing public transportation throughout the Wasatch Front of Utah, in the United States, which includes the metropolitan areas of Ogden, Utah, Ogden, Park City, U ...

park-and-ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system ( ...

lot. South of Wasatch Boulevard (where SR-190 actually takes on the Wasatch Boulevard name) there is only a quarry to the east and the view to the valley below to the west; at the base of the cliff, but out of sight, is the old paper mill building with which the area is often identified. The route continues south over a bridge spanning Big Cottonwood Creek and the planned final phase of the Big Cottonwood Creek

multi-use trail A shared-use path, mixed-use path or multi-use pathway is a path which is "designed to accommodate the movement of pedestrians and cyclists". Examples of shared-use paths include sidewalks designated as shared-use, bridleways and rail trails. A ...

at the mouth of the canyon, then intersects with SR-210, which continues south as Wasatch Boulevard, and Fort Union Boulevard, which heads west. Traffic following SR-190 east must turn left at this intersection. Beyond the intersection, park-and-ride lots used only for

ski Skis are runners, attached to the user's feet, designed to glide over snow. Typically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partially secured heel. For climbing slopes, ski skins c ...

buses (or otherwise for the benefit of canyon visitors) and a water treatment plant are visible to the north and residential development within Cottonwood Heights city occupies the slope to the south.

Big Cottonwood Canyon

Signs of urban development quickly disappear as the canyon walls get closer together. The route passes many trailheads and picnic areas within the canyon, as well as historic water- and mining-related infrastructure and a few areas of cabins, before passing

Solitude Mountain Resort Solitude Mountain Resort is a ski resort located in the Big Cottonwood Canyon of the Wasatch Mountains, thirty miles southeast of Salt Lake City, Utah. With 66 trails, and vertical, Solitude is one of the smaller ski resorts near Salt Lake Ci ...

and looping through

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

Guardsman Pass

After looping through Brighton, the route connects (with some backtracking) to a narrower mountain road across Guardsman Pass, terminating (with a non-state-maintained connection through to Park City via Utah State Route 224 (SR-224)and Midway/

Heber City Heber City is a city and county seat of Wasatch County, Utah. The population was 16,856 as of the 2020 United States census. The city is located 43 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. History Heber City was first settled in 1859 by Robert Broad ...

via SR-222) at the top of the pass as it enters

Wasatch County Wasatch County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 34,788. Its county seat and largest city is Heber City. The county was named for a Ute word meaning "mountain pass" or "low plac ...

. This part of the road is normally closed all winter.

Legal definition

The legal definition of State Route 190 is as follows: 72-4-124. State highways—SR-186, SR-189, SR-190.
(3) SR-190. From Route 215 at Knudsen's Corner southeasterly to Route 210 at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon; then easterly through Big Cottonwood Canyon to Brighton, including Brighton Loop; then easterly through Guardsman Pass to the Salt Lake-Wasatch County line.

History

The first piece of present SR-190 was added to the state highway system in 1933 as part of

Utah State Route 152 State Route 152 (SR-152) is a state highway in the suburbs of Salt Lake City, Utah connecting SR-71 in Murray to I-215 and city-maintained Highland Drive in Cottonwood Heights, though for almost all of its length it forms the border between ...

(SR-152), which followed Highland Drive, 6200 South, and Big Cottonwood Canyon Road from

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

to the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest boundary in

. In 1941,SR-152 was extended east in the forest to

, and in 1945 the connection from Highland Drive to the canyon was moved south to Fort Union Boulevard. In order to provide access to the new

Wasatch Mountain State Park Wasatch Mountain State Park is a state park of Utah, United States, located in the northern part of the state within the Wasatch Back area on the north and west edges of the Heber Valley in Wasatch County, Utah, Wasatch County near the city of M ...

, SR-152 was extended east from Brighton in 1963, following an existing

county road A county highway (also county road or county route; usually abbreviated CH or CR) is a road in the United States and in the Canadian province of Ontario that is designated and/or maintained by the county highway department. Route numbering can ...

over Guardsman Pass to end at SR-224. Finally, in 1987, a piece in the middle of SR-152, from I-215 south and east to Wasatch Boulevard ( Utah State Route 210 R-210, was removed from the state highway system. In its place was a proposed

limited access road A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, partial controlled-access highway, and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a contro ...

, extending 6200 South past I-215 and along Wasatch Boulevard to Big Cottonwood Canyon Road. To avoid an

overlap Overlap may refer to: * In set theory, an overlap of elements shared between sets is called an intersection, as in a Venn diagram. * In music theory, overlap is a synonym for reinterpretation of a chord at the boundary of two musical phrases * Ove ...

of SR-152 on I-215, the new roadway became an extension of SR-210, and former SR-152 from Wasatch Boulevard to SR-224 became a new State Route 190.

Utah Department of Transportation The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is an agency of the state government of Utah, United States; it is usually referred to by its initials UDOT (pronounced "you-dot"). UDOT is responsible for approximately 5,900 miles (9,495 kilomet ...

Highway Resolutions
, updated November 2007, accessed May 2008 To avoid the necessity of re

milepost A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway, railway line, canal or border, boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks like Mileage sign, mileage signs; or they c ...

ing SR-210, the new connection instead became part of SR-190 in 1988, bringing that route to its maximum extent: I-215 to SR-224. As part of a trade with

in which the state took back what is now

Utah State Route 32 State Route 32 (SR-32) is a state highway in Wasatch and Summit Counties in the U.S. state of Utah. Most of the highway is an old routing of U.S. Route 189 that became disconnected from the rest of US-189 during the construction of the Jorda ...

, and had been U.S. Route 189, from

U.S. Route 40 U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America (a nickname shared with U.S. Route 66), is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid- ...

south of the

Jordanelle Reservoir Jordanelle Reservoir is a reservoir in Wasatch County, Utah, United States, just north of Heber City. Jordanelle Reservoir is fed and drained primarily by the Provo River, and is impounded by the Jordanelle Dam, an earthen dam. The constructio ...

Francis Francis may refer to: People and characters *Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church (2013–2025) *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) * Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie2 ...

, the east end of SR-190 was cut back to the Salt Lake–Wasatch County line in 1990.

Highway Resolutions
, updated November 2007, accessed May 2008

Major intersections

References

External links

Highway Reference Information:0190P
(

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

)
State Road Resolutions:Route 190
(

) {{DEFAULTSORT:State Route 190

190 Year 190 ( CXC) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Sura (or, less frequently, year 943 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 190 for this year ...

190

Tourist attractions in Salt Lake County, Utah