"Good Roads Roberts" and the Fight for Utah Highways BY J A N E T R. BALMFORTH
M O S T U T A H N S ACCEPT WITHOUT THOUGHT the thousands of miles of free-flowing highways that crisscross the state. With few exceptions cars travel from one point to another with ease and speed. Only when highway building and maintenance crews are slow in filling chuckholes, late in salting and sanding icy surfaces, or delay in getting rid of detours does the motorist complain. However, good roads have not always existed in Utah. The six-lane freeway between Salt Lake City and Provo was completed by the state less than ten years ago. The well-maintained highway to the top of Monte Cristo in northern Utah was finished less than thirty years ago. And seventy-five years ago there were few hard-surfaced roads in the entire state. Early Utah roads, like roads in most other parts of the country, were a mire in winter, dusty in summer, and full of ruts, rocks, bumps, Mrs. Balmforth is a writer living in Provo.
