Utah State Route 31 Explained

State:UT
Type:SR
Route:31
Alternate Name:Huntington Canyon Scenic Byway
Map Custom:yes
Section:109
Length Mi:47.746
Length Round:3
Established:1915 as a state highway; 1927 as SR-31
Direction A:West
Terminus A: at Fairview
Junction: near Fairview
Direction B:East
Terminus B: in Huntington
Previous Type:SR
Previous Route:30
Next Type:SR
Next Route:32

State Route 31 (SR-31) is a state highway in Sanpete and Emery Counties in the U.S. state of Utah. It runs for 47.746miles from US-89 at Fairview to SR-10 in Huntington. The highway has been designated as part of The Energy Loop, a National Scenic Byway.

Route description

SR-31 begins at an intersection with US-89 at Fairview and runs east northeast for approximately 10miles, then turns southeast for the remainder of the route, terminating at an intersection with SR-10 at Huntington.

Just off State Route 31, about 15 miles (24 km) west north-west of Huntington, is Crandall Canyon, location of the Crandall Canyon coal mine. On Monday, August 6, 2007, at 2:48 A.M., the mine collapsed, trapping and killing six workers inside. A second collapse on August 16, 2007, killed a Mine Safety and Health Administration investigator and two more miners, bringing the total to nine.[1]

History

The road from SR-32 (by 1926 US-89) in Fairview east to the Sanpete-Emery County line, near the present north end of Electric Lake, was added to the state highway system in 1915. It was extended southeast to SR-10 in Huntington in 1918,[2] and in 1927 the state legislature numbered the Fairview-Huntington highway as SR-31.[3] A major realignment was made in 1976, when Electric Lake was created and a new route was built to the west. The old route in Sanpete County became a county road, and is now part of SR-264, but the majority of the road in Emery County was beneath the lake and thus abandoned.[2]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Report on the August 6, 2007 Disaster at Crandall Canyon Mine. United States Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
  2.  , updated October 2007, accessed May 2008
  3. 1927. 31. From Fairview southeasterly to Huntington..