Lund Highway

Lund Highway is a road connecting Cedar City to the ghost town of Lund in Iron County, Utah. Although it is presently classified as a minor collector, [Utah Department of Transportation, [http://www.udot.utah.gov/main/f?p=100:pg:5460792463213589::::V,T:,1226 Functional Classification Maps] : [http://www.udot.utah.gov/main/uconowner.gf?n=135429817557240043 Iron County] , approved 2005-02-14, accessed July 2008] it was once an important connection between the Union Pacific Railroad at Lund and the national parks of southern Utah and northern Arizona.

History

The State Road Commission designated a state highway connecting Cedar City with Lund in August 1912.Utah Department of Transportation, [http://www.udot.utah.gov/download.php/tid=1348/StateRouteHistory.pdf State Route History] , accessed July 2007] The purpose was to connect Cedar City with the nearest railroad station, that of the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad (Union Pacific Railroad) at Lund. [http://books.google.com/books?id=SZUAAAAAMAAJ Third Biennial Report of the State Road Commission for the years 1913 and 1914] , p. 139 (Iron County): "During this biennium the principal road construction was that between Cedar City and its nearest railroad center, namely, Lund. Eighteen miles of this road was constructed during the fall of 1913 by the ordinary team and grader method. The remaining seventeen miles of road was constructed during the spring and summer of 1914 by means of graders drawn by a traction engine."] A connecting road - now known as Gap Road - running west from the county seat at Parowan through Hieroglyphic Canyon (now Parowan GapUtah State Road Commission (Rand McNally), Utah Official Highway Map, 1956] ) to the Cedar City-Lund road was added to the state highway system in December 1915. [http://books.google.com/books?id=pZUAAAAAMAAJ Fourth Biennial Report, State Road Commission, 1915 and 1916] , p. 144] In 1919, the state legislature redefined the state highway system to include only a short list of roads and any federal aid projects. The road to Cedar City was kept since it was improved with federal aid, [http://books.google.com/books?id=pZUAAAAAMAAJ Fifth Biennial Report, State Road Commission, 1917-1918] , p. 23] and the road to Parowan was dropped, but restored in 1921. [cite UTSR law|year=1921|quote=(r) From Parowan in a westerly direction via Gap, Wm. Adam's Well and intersect the Cedar-Lund road at a point sixteen miles east of Lund.]

The Union Pacific Railroad began to promote a "circle tour" connecting Bryce Canyon National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Zion National Park, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park in 1922. A new Cedar City Branch from Lund shortened the off-railroad distance, allowing the Utah Parks Company, a Union Pacific subsidiary that operated the tour buses and park lodging, to begin at Cedar City. [National Park Service, [http://www.nps.gov/archive/pisp/adhi/adhit.htm Pipe Spring National Monument: An Administrative History] (Part II), accessed July 2008] Passenger trains on the branch usually operated only during the summer, however, while railroad-operated bus service on the Lund-Cedar City state highway ran year round.Fact|date=July 2008

The state legislature designated the roads connecting Lund to SR-1 at both Cedar City and Parowan as State Route 19 in 1927, [cite UTSR law|year=1927|quote=19. From Cedar City northwesterly via Wye Junction to Lund, also from Wye Junction to Parowan.] and in 1931 the Parowan branch was split off, first as SR-128 [cite UTSR law|year=1931|quote=(128) From Wye junction on route 19 easterly to Parowan.] and then in 1933 as State Route 127. [cite UTSR law|year=1933|chapter=30|quote=(127) From Wye Junction on route 19 easterly to Parowan.] A second connection between SR-19 and SR-1, following Midvalley Road past Enoch, became State Route 199 in 1935 [cite UTSR law|year=1935|quote=Route 199. From route 1 near Summit to route 19 near Mid Valley.] but was given back to the county in 1943. [cite UTSR law|year=1943] SR-127 was removed from the state highway system in 1953 [cite UTSR law|year=1953] and SR-19 in 1969, automobiles having largely supplanted railroads as the preferred method of vacation travel.

References