Two state highways have had the largest traffic percentages of increase so far this year in southern Utah although the daily traffic numbers are much higher on I-15.
U.S. highways are showing little gain. The Utah Department of Transportation has 80 permanent traffic recording locations throughout the state, 26 of them in rural southern Utah. They log such information on state, interstate and U.S. highways as average numbers of vehicles, percentages of volumes and maximum traffic hours in corresponding periods with previous months and years.The latest figures show U-21 west of Beaver and U-14 east of Cedar City with the highest percentage gains this year at 13.2 and 12.3, respectively. However, the respective number of daily average vehicles at these stations are only 1,250 and 3,866, substantially less than many other stations. U-9 west of Hurricane carries by far the largest traffic volume of any state highway in southern Utah, its 13,802 daily vehicles comparing favorably with I-15 traffic.
That Washington County city, located a few miles east of St. George, is experiencing substantial growth, and many of the vehicles travel between the two cities. Zion National Park also contributes to the high number of vehicles. I-15 south of Bloomington has the highest traffic volume in southern Utah with 17,955 average vehicles daily, an increase over past year of 9.9 percent. I-15 traffic generally decreases north of Washington County until it reaches Utah County because the St. George area has a much higher population than other locations in southern Utah. Traffic is much lighter on the other interstate highway, I-70, an east-west route with an average of about 5,000 daily vehicles.
Among U.S. highways, U.S. 191 north of Monticello has had the greatest percentage of traffic increase in the southern sector of the state with 8.8 percent. But the highest volume among these highways is on U.S. 6 northwest of Price, recording 12,022 average cars daily this year. Three stations have percentage declines, U-24 north of Sigurd with 5.0, U.S. 191 near Moab with 5.4 and that same highway near Bluff with 3.1.
The highways, cities near station locations, percentages of increases (except as otherwise noted), and average number of daily vehicles are as follows: Utah state highways - U-28, Levan, 5.2, 2,365 vehicles daily; U-10, Huntington, 7.7, 4,271; U-95, Hanksville, 1.1, 991; U-21, Beaver, 13.2, 1,250; U-9, Hurricane, 5.5, 13,802; U-14, Cedar City, 12.3, 3,866; U-24, Sigurd, -5.0, 2,293.
U.S. highways - U.S. 89: Circleville, 0.8, 1,623; Kanab, 5.0, 2,693; (Alternate) Kanab 1.4, 4,679; Marysvale, 1.9, 1,836; Salina, 2.6, 5,614. U.S. 6: Helper, 0.6, 7,357; Green River, 2.3, 4,211; Price, 2.7, 12,022. U.S. 191: Monticello, 8.8, 4,559; Bluff, -3.1, 2,463; Moab, -5.4, 6,363 .
Interstate Highways - I-70: Richfield, 3.9, 4,798; Green River, 3.2, 5,446. I-15: Bloomington, 9.9, 17,955; Leeds, 9.0, 15,543; Beaver, 6.56, 13,649; Paragonah, 5.1, 13,616; Nephi, 4.9, 11,566; Scipio, 5.7, 10,685.