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ERDA, Tooele County — Utah transportation officials believe a new highway opening in Tooele County this weekend will help alleviate congestion on one of the county's more critical highways as the area continues to grow.
The Midvalley Highway, or state Route 179, is a 4.5-mile highway that connects state Route 138 with I-80, providing a new access point to Tooele County communities from I-80. It allows motorists to reach places in the Tooele Valley like Erda and Grantsville without having to use state Route 36.
The new highway is set to officially open at 5 a.m. Saturday.
"It's a big day for Tooele County," said Rep. Merrill Nelson, R-Grantsville. "The Midvalley Highway provides a gateway into the Tooele Valley. Most importantly, it improves motorist safety and mobility. It takes us away from that dangerous bottleneck over at Lake Point (on S.R. 36)."
Tooele County is no exception to Utah's nation-leading percentage growth over the past decade. It was the fifth-fastest growing county based on percentage increase, according to the 2020 census; its 25% growth from 2010 exceeded the state's rate of 18.4%. Its growth has led to a growing demand for all sorts of resources, including roads.
As more people have settled in the area, Utah Department of Transportation officials say they've dealt with growing congestion issues on S.R. 36, the first I-80 exit for those heading west on the freeway. Crews began work on the Midvalley Highway in 2019 to address the problem.
"The goal for this project was to provide better access for Tooele County residents to I-80 and alleviate some of the congestion that we're seeing on S.R. 36," said Lisa Wilson, UDOT's deputy director of engineering and operations. "We're very excited. This has been a long time coming."
It gets worse any time there's bad weather or a crash on S.R. 36 or I-80. When that happens, traffic backups can last for hours.
Nelson, who points out he's lived in the Grantsville area for nearly his whole life, said he's well aware of those issues.
"I've received lots of angry emails from constituents who think (I) don't know what's going on, but I do because often I'm in those backups," he said. "This will provide a lot of relief for the commuters and the motorists in the Tooele Valley and Tooele County, and it'll provide better access to the valley for others coming into the valley."
Nelson said UDOT believes the new highway will reduce 15% to 20% of the traffic at the I-80, S.R. 36 interchange. That's an equivalent of about 6,000 to 8,000 vehicles per day.
The Midvalley Highway may just feed into the region's growing population, too. Nelson said Friday that it will open up a new corridor "for economic development."
The highway, he pointed out, will provide "direct access" to the Tooele Valley Airport, Utah Motorsports Campus, Deseret Peak Complex, Peterson Industrial Depot and Utah State University's branch in Tooele, among other things. It's why he says the highway is "very important to Tooele Valley."
The new highway is currently just one lane in both directions for now. Wilson said more lanes are planned for the future, although the timeline for growth isn't quite set in place.
Wilson added the future plans also call for the highway to go south beyond S.R. 138. The transportation department is still in the middle of evaluating an environmental impact before construction to extend the road ever happens.
It's all one part of a "long-term planning process" to address growth in Tooele County, according to Wilson. Other future projects include additional lanes on S.R. 36.
The new highway is something that Nelson said will be beneficial for residents and visitors alike. That said, he knows more will have to be done.
"It's a big deal but it's also just a beginning for us. It's one phase — one part of one phase," he said. "If you look down the road, so to speak, we have lots more improvements that need to be made."
