State Route 71 (SR-71) is a state highway completely within the Salt Lake City metropolitan area in the northern portion of the US state of Utah. It runs from SR-154 in the southwest side of the city to SR-186 in Downtown Salt Lake City. The route spans as it runs along portions of 12600 South, 12300 South, 900 East, and 700 East streets.
The entire route is included as part of the National Highway System.
Route description
Riverton
The highway begins at the intersection of SR-154 (Bangerter Highway) and 12600 South in Riverton and heads east on 12600 South, a four-lane undivided highway. As the route continues east through suburban Riverton and intersects 1300 West, it gains a center median and turns northeast. The route passes a park and a golf course and crosses over the Jordan River. The road straightens to the east and, moving north three blocks on the Salt Lake County grid position, turns into 12300 South.
Draper
The highway enters Draper and intersects with I-15 at exit 291, a single-point urban interchange. Between this interchange and Factory Outlet Drive, a concurrency spanning with US-89 occurs. The road continues east through Draper before turning north onto 700 East. Past Kimballs Lane, the road veers to the west slightly and crosses the Utah Transit Authority's TRAX Blue Line's Draper light rail extension at an acute angle, then straightens to its original northerly direction past 11400 South.
Sandy
The route passes through Sandy as a five-lane (including center turn lane) road with sidewalks along most of its length. A bridge spans Dimple Dell Park (Dry Creek) north of 10600 South. In this area, the road is next to White City, an unincorporated enclave of Sandy. The road intersects 9400 South (former Utah State Route 209) in a retail area, then intersects 9000 South (current Utah State Route 209) at the southeast corner of the Sandy Historic District.
Midvale
SR-71 enters Midvale at 7800 South and curves northeast along the south bank of the East Jordan Canal, passing Hillcrest High School before crossing over the canal and turning north again (as 900 East) to run through the western part of the Fort Union commercial district. Upon reaching Interstate 215, the road is joined by the Jordan and Salt Lake Canal, and the canal and road cross the freeway together on adjacent bridges, entering Murray.
Murray
Access to Interstate 215 from SR-71 is provided by Winchester Street, which connects to Exit 9 a short distance to the east. Wheeler Farm appears east of SR-71 as the Jordan and Salt Lake Canal passes under the road and continues east in a pipe just north of Winchester Street. The route intersects the eastern segment of Vine Street (former State Route 173) just as it passes over Little Cottonwood Creek, which is in a concrete trench; the western segment of Vine Street meets SR-71 at an unsignalized intersection a short distance further north. After passing a retail area and the entrance to a golf course, the road meets the north (non-state-maintained) segment of 900 East, the northern terminus of SR-152 (Van Winkle Expressway), and Murray-Holladay Road (former State Route 174) at a six-way intersection south of Big Cottonwood Creek. The complexity of this six-way intersection has been moderated by effectively dividing it into two three-way and one four-way intersection in close proximity: SR-71, in particular, turns west at the four-way intersection (from which 900 East continues north and SR-152 continues east) and then immediately intersects Murray-Holladay Road at a signalized three-way intersection (though northwest-bound traffic on SR-71 never has to stop, due to a channelized free right turn arrangement). Beyond this intersection, SR-71 (which now has four lanes in each direction, having absorbed much of SR-152's traffic) crosses Big Cottonwood Creek and forms the border between Murray and Millcreek Township for a short distance as it curves north again to become 700 East and intersect SR-266 (4500 South).