It was opened on August 22, 1986, and was about 50 miles (80 km) from the site of another cross-country milestone in Utah, the driving of the golden spike of the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit. The 4.5-mile-long (7.2 km) section of I-80 between State Route 68 (SR-68, Redwood Road) and Salt Lake City International Airport was the last piece of the nearly 2,900-mile-long (4,700 km) freeway to be completed. The easternmost section also follows the historical routes of the first transcontinental railroad and US-30S.Ĭonstruction of the controlled-access highway began in the 1950s, and, by the late 1970s, most of the freeway across the state of Utah had been completed.

I-80 was built along the corridor of the Lincoln Highway and the Mormon Trail through the Wasatch Range. At the Spaghetti Bowl, I-80 turns east again into the mouth of Parleys Canyon and Summit County, travels through the mountain range, and intersects the eastern end of I-84 near Echo Reservoir before turning northeast toward the Wyoming border near Evanston.

A short portion of the freeway is concurrent with I-15 through Downtown Salt Lake City. After passing the Oquirrh Mountains, I-80 enters the Salt Lake Valley and Salt Lake County. It continues alongside the Wendover Cut-off-the corridor of the former Victory Highway- US Route 40 (US-40) and the Western Pacific Railroad Feather River Route. From west to east, I-80 crosses the state line from Nevada in Tooele County and traverses the Bonneville Salt Flats-which are a part of the larger Great Salt Lake Desert. The portion of the highway in the US state of Utah is 197.51 miles (317.86 km) long through the northern part of the state. Interstate 80 ( I-80) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey.

Salt flats utah i-80