Do an internet search for “most dangerous roads in Utah,” and chances are you will find a lot of ideas.
A list from the Advocates Injury Attorney office includes Washington Boulevard in Ogden (the busiest route in Weber County with poor left-hand turn visibility) and U.S. Highway 6 from Spanish Fork to Price (a tight, twisting route through canyons — though by 2020, the Utah Transportation Commission celebrated a 75% drop in the rate of crashes with serious injuries).
Body shop Valley Collision named Interstate 15 (narrow shoulders, lots of trucks), Interstate 80 (steep, sharp turns) and the Mountain View Corridor (no streetlights and no shoulders).
And Utah Personal Injury Lawyers included U.S. Route 89 in its lineup because of this road’s frequent twists and turns.
An internet search for “most dangerous intersections in Utah” offers a lot to choose from, as well.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported in 2016 that, according to data from the Utah Department of Transportation, the worst intersection on the state highway system was State Street at 4500 South in Murray with 166 crashes.
Craig Swapp & Associates referenced the same data, pointing to Redwood Road containing both the second- and third-most dangerous crossings; while Kramer Law Group wrote in a blog post that the intersection of Pony Express Parkway and Ranches Parkway in Eagle Mountain is “plagued” with crashes.
The Salt Lake Tribune recently asked readers which roads and intersections they consider the most hazardous.
The survey received 75 responses, with some answers listing only a road or an intersection and others listing both.
In all, 61 responses named roads and 48 named intersections.
Here’s what some of the survey respondents had to say.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The intersection at State Street and 4500 South in Murray, one that sees some of the most accidents each year in Utah, is pictured on Friday, April 8, 2022.
Roads
Parrish Lane in Centerville was the most commonly named stretch of dangerous road. Of the 61 survey respondents who named a road in their answers, 17 included something about Parrish Lane.
Additionally, a total of six intersection responses listed a Parrish Lane junction.
Rebekka Wilkinson in Layton said she lived in Centerville for six years and never felt safe with how the I-15 Exit 319 off-ramp merges onto Parrish Lane.
It would be safer if the overpass were widened and if there were more space to merge, she said.
“People don’t have enough time to merge into the lane they need,” Wilkinson wrote. “I guess the merging lanes are too short.”
Cassandra Fuentes of Centerville wrote that Parrish Lane going east is “the worst” because the left lane turns into a left turn onto northbound I-15 and the straight lane becomes a left turn onto the frontage road.
At the same time, people turning right off of northbound I-15 are trying to merge onto the frontage road, she wrote.
“It’s a mess because you have people trying to merge in opposite directions,” Fuentes said, adding that she thinks clear signage and more lanes would make Parrish Lane safer.
Parrish Lane wasn’t the only frequently mentioned road. I-15 was the second most commonly named road among the survey respondents who included roads in their answers, with 12 of the 61 listing it.
Draper resident Steven Parker said he thinks I-15 is dangerous largely because of debris, large and small, that falls off trucks.
He has large dents in his convertible from this issue, he said, and even once had to swerve around flying debris to avoid being hit in the face.
Parker said he thinks better enforcement of existing laws would help solve the issue.
“Instead of focusing on the lucrative speeding issue, ticket all of the gravel trucks leaving the Point of the Mountain [and] ticket trucks driving with loose items in the back,” he wrote.
That’s not to say that some Utahns don’t think speeding on I-15 is a problem.
Madison Hayes, who lives in Salt Lake City, said she encounters speeders, weavers and passers on I-15.
“People are always at [their] worst on the highway — and going faster while doing it,” she said.
Hayes said she thinks I-15 would be safer if there were more methods to monitor speeding and if tickets were mailed to offenders.
“Highway Patrol is rarely around when someone cuts me off or zips past the right of me,” she said.
A variety of other Utah roads were also mentioned in the survey responses.
Montezuma Creek resident Harry Schaefer wrote that State Route 162, for 3 miles east of his town, is narrow and “terribly beat up.”
Schaefer said as a volunteer EMT, he’s more than once climbed down the road’s large embankment to haul people up to ambulances.
Adding shoulders would make this stretch of road safer, he said.
“It’s a terrifying 3 miles,” Schaefer wrote.
Chandler Russell in Logan said his city’s Main Street is often overrun with traffic, and that drivers “weave erratically” at the first signs of a slowdown.
There are also several parking lots on this street, he said, and cars going in and out of them often misjudge how fast or slow they should drive.
“Left turns on this road are basically impossible, though many drivers still attempt them, and often have to shoot very risky gaps in order to complete a turn at all,” Russell said.
He said prohibiting left turns might make Logan’s Main Street safer. Another idea would be splitting the road into a one way, with 200 East, 100 East or 100 West becoming the other way, he said.
Intersections
Roads were just one part of survey respondent’s thoughts about dangerous areas to drive in.
Forty-eight people listed Utah intersections they think are the most hazardous, and almost every one was different.
The only exceptions were Wasatch Boulevard and Fort Union Boulevard in Cottonwood Heights, which two people named; State Street and South Temple in Salt Lake City, which two people listed; and 400 West and Parrish Lane in Centerville, which two people named, though a total of six named a Parrish Lane intersection.
Keith Bartholomew, who lives in Salt Lake City, said he’s nearly been hit multiple times at 700 East and 200 South in Salt Lake.
There are seven authorized vehicle lanes there, he said, but there is sufficient space for an additional, informal right-hand turn lane.
The combination of a long crossing distance, pressure on left-turning drivers to get through the intersection, and the left-looking focus of right-turning drivers means that pedestrians are often practically invisible to those in cars, Batholomew said.
The intersection at “700 East at 200 South is the most dangerous one for pedestrians that I experience regularly,” he wrote.
He also said he thinks fewer traffic lanes, a protected median, extended curbs and stop lines farther from the intersection would make this area safer.
Barbara Crofts in West Valley City named 3300 South and State Street in Salt Lake City as Utah’s most dangerous intersection.
As a pedestrian, she was nearly hit by cars there multiple times, she said, and twice they came close enough for her to touch them.
“As a wheelchair user, I was never more terrified than crossing there to go to the little market by the theaters,” she said.
And Salt Lake City resident Laura Burgett said that during rush hour, the intersection at 900 West and 3300 South is clogged and has short green lights, causing some people to run red lights.
She said the congestion would be cleared more quickly if the intersection lights were better synchronized and if the speed limit was raised.
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