Wendover Cut-off | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Route information | |
| Maintained by Tooele County Road Department | |
| Length | 40.3 mi[1] (64.9 km) |
| Existed | June 13, 1925–present |
| Major junctions | |
| West end |   I-80 BL / SR-58 in Wendover |
| East end |  I-80 in Knolls |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Utah |
| Counties | Tooele |
| Highway system | |
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The Wendover Cut-off, also called the Wendover Road or Wendover Route, is a two-lane highway in the western part of Tooele County in the U.S. state of Utah. Stretching 40.3 miles (64.9 km) from Wendover to Knolls across the Bonneville Salt Flats, a part of the Great Salt Lake Desert, the cut-off was once part of the primary link between the Nevada state line and Salt Lake City. In 2012, between 240 and 250 vehicles used the cut-off near its western terminus in Wendover on an average day.
The first roadway across the Great Salt Lake Desert was completed in 1917 as a single-lane highway. It was added to the Utah state highway system in 1919, and replacement plans had begun to arise as soon as 1921. In 1923, the current cut-off was approved for construction and was opened to the traveling public in 1925. The United States Numbered Highway System brought the arrival of the U.S. Route 40 (US-40) designation to the highway, on the same day the Lincoln Highway Association agreed to abandon their southerly route to Ely, and route the Lincoln Highway along the cut-off. Later, the cut-off was also designated as part of US-50 and US-50 Alternate (US-50 Alt). Upon the completion of the parallel Interstate 80 (I-80), the previous U.S. Route designations were deleted from the United States Numbered Highway System, and the cut-off was turned over to the county.