Route information | ||||
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Maintained by UDOT | ||||
Length | 18.095 mi[1] (29.121 km) | |||
Existed | 1939–present | |||
Major junctions | ||||
West end | I-80 near Magna | |||
SR-202 near Magna SR-111 in Magna SR-172 in West Valley City SR-154 in Salt Lake City I-215 in West Valley City SR-68 in West Valley City I-15 / I-80 in South Salt Lake | ||||
East end | US 89 in Salt Lake City/South Salt Lake | |||
Location | ||||
Country | United States | |||
State | Utah | |||
Highway system | ||||
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State Route 201 (SR-201) is an east–west expressway and freeway located in Salt Lake County in the U.S. state of Utah. Colloquially known by some as the 21st South Freeway,[2] the route serves as an alternative to Interstate 80 (I-80) through Salt Lake City. From the western terminus of the route west of Magna, the highway heads east through Kennecott Copper property as an expressway before running through the western suburbs of Salt Lake City as a freeway. Shortly after the route returns on a surface route, SR-201 terminates on its eastern end at State Street (U.S. Route 89).
The history of the route predates the invention of the automobile; the Donner Party, California Trail and Pony Express all followed the present-day path of the highway. During the 1910s, the route was designated a state highway and, in 1939, State Route 201 was officially written into law, running from Magna east to the mouth of Parley's Canyon. At one point, the highway carried US-50 Alternate west of State Street and both US-40 and US-40 Alternate east of that road, though all were truncated from Salt Lake City by the late 1970s. Construction of the freeway portion of SR-201 west of I-15 commenced in the mid-1960s and was fully completed by 1986.