I-80 and the Great Salt Lake
Dave 2
the rising level of the Great Salt Lake due to unusual weather conditions
during the previous 2 years.
Part of the article discussed some emergency reconstruction of I-80 to
increase the level of the roadbed, and showed the devastation of a resort
known as "Saltair"
What has happened in the years since 1985? The article speculated about the
effects should the lake continue to rise.
Perhaps Dan Stober can provide some input.
--
There's something exciting about a road, about a highway. It's an adventure.
There's a rush of associations and movements. You never know where it's going
to take you or what's around the bend or what's going to cross the path
especially on a long stretch of highway. - Michele Grijalva
Will Flor
>I recently re-read an article from a 1985 National Geographic, which discussed
>the rising level of the Great Salt Lake due to unusual weather conditions
>during the previous 2 years.
>
>Part of the article discussed some emergency reconstruction of I-80 to
>increase the level of the roadbed, and showed the devastation of a resort
>known as "Saltair"
>
>What has happened in the years since 1985? The article speculated about the
>effects should the lake continue to rise.
The Great Salt Lake level rose a bit 'til 1987, when it reached its highest
point and then began to recede. Since then it's gone down roughly twelve
feet.
-Will Flor wi...@will-flor.spamblock.com
Appropriately adjust my return address to reach me via e-mail.
Brandon M. Gorte
: In article <36277CBB...@infowave.cutoffs.net>, Dave 2 <da...@infowave.cutoffs.net> wrote:
: >I recently re-read an article from a 1985 National Geographic, which discussed
: >the rising level of the Great Salt Lake due to unusual weather conditions
: >during the previous 2 years.
: >
: >Part of the article discussed some emergency reconstruction of I-80 to
: >increase the level of the roadbed, and showed the devastation of a resort
: >known as "Saltair"
: >
: >What has happened in the years since 1985? The article speculated about the
: >effects should the lake continue to rise.
:
: The Great Salt Lake level rose a bit 'til 1987, when it reached its highest
: point and then began to recede. Since then it's gone down roughly twelve
: feet.
I remember standing by the shore of the Great Salt Lake in 1984, before
I-80 was raised, and being amazed at how close the water was to the road.
This was at the U-202 (Temple Street), and I-80 interchange.
Brandon Gorte
Undergrad in Geological Engineering
Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI
Chicago Area Interstates Page:
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/~bmgorte/interstate.html
Kyle Levenhagen
>
> In article <70b57p$4o5$1...@australis25.ice.mtu.edu>, bmg...@mtu.edu (Brandon M.
> Gorte) writes:
>
> >I remember standing by the shore of the Great Salt Lake in 1984, before
> >I-80 was raised, and being amazed at how close the water was to the road.
> >This was at the U-202 (Temple Street), and I-80 interchange.
>
> California back in 1985 and went out there to see the flooding. You got the
> right interchange, but the wrong street name. You may have been thinking of
> "Temple Street" because back then I-80 wasn't completed near the airport, so
> traffic used old US 40, which was North Temple Street. Nowadays, most of North
> Temple Street is U-186.
>
> Incidentally, I took a buttload of slides during that time, but since I am
> unable to scan them, I'll have to wait until I get them printed, and then scan
> them. But...someday...I will have pictures of the Utah floods of the 80s on my
> website.
I have a book at home on natural disasters that has a couple of pictures
of this. They both show I-80 and the Union Pacific tracks west SLC as
being on separate "islands", with all surrounding land entirely
underwater (including the median of I-80). It didn't appear to be too
deep, but the fact that it was actually underwater was surprising.
Kyle
MaryKDan
>I remember standing by the shore of the Great Salt Lake in 1984, before
>I-80 was raised, and being amazed at how close the water was to the road.
>This was at the U-202 (Temple Street), and I-80 interchange.
Er...U-202 is SaltAir Drive at exit 104. I, too, visited Salt lake from
California back in 1985 and went out there to see the flooding. You got the
right interchange, but the wrong street name. You may have been thinking of
"Temple Street" because back then I-80 wasn't completed near the airport, so
traffic used old US 40, which was North Temple Street. Nowadays, most of North
Temple Street is U-186.
Incidentally, I took a buttload of slides during that time, but since I am
unable to scan them, I'll have to wait until I get them printed, and then scan
them. But...someday...I will have pictures of the Utah floods of the 80s on my
website.
- Dan Stober
West Jordan, Utah
hpds...@ihc.com
Dave 2 <da...@infowave.cutoffs.net> wrote:
> I recently re-read an article from a 1985 National Geographic, which discussed
> the rising level of the Great Salt Lake due to unusual weather conditions
> during the previous 2 years.
>
> Part of the article discussed some emergency reconstruction of I-80 to
> increase the level of the roadbed, and showed the devastation of a resort
> known as "Saltair"
>
> What has happened in the years since 1985? The article speculated about the
> effects should the lake continue to rise.
>
I can...
Actually, I sent a reply to this earlier in the week, but it seems to have
disappeared into AOL's usenet netherland... I don't have it archived, but
here is what I wrote, as closely as I can remember:
The Great Salt Lake peaked at a historical (relatively speaking) level of 4212
feet in 1985 and again in 1986. The lake undergoes an annual fluctuation of 3
to 6 feet in its level due to weather patterns and the fact that there is no
outlet. Typically, it reaches a high in late May or early June, rising from
rain snow and spring runoff, and its lowest point is in October, after the
summer evaporation.
The lake sits in a basin created by prehistoric Lake Bonneville, a freshwater
body which disappeared around the time of the Pleistocene, but which was 1000
feet higher than today's lake and covered much of what is today western Utah,
northeastern Nevada, and southern Idaho. Today, the lake is only about 30
feet deep at its deepest spot.
Due to the gentle sloping of the terrain around the lake left by Lake
Bonneville, a small change in the level of the lake causes a huge change in
the water surface area. The historic highs of the mid 80s inundated the
nearby freeway and railroad, and appraoched the Salt Lake airport, while back
in 1963, when the lake was at its recorded low point of 4193 feet (only 20
feet lower), the waterline was several miles north of I-80 (then US 40).
I-80 was built at a level of 4206 feet, and as the lake level rose, crews
scrambled to raise the level of the roadway and keep it above water. Today,
I-80 is at 4216 feet elevation. Also, since at that time no one was able to
predict when the rising waters would subside, the State of Utah spent $60
million to build a pumping station on the west side of the lake which would
pull water out of the lake and dump it onto the salt falts of the west
desert. The lake reversed directions before the pumps were ever used, and
the pumps sit idle today.
Another casualty of the rising waters was the Antelope Island Causeway which
connects Davis County near Syracuse with the Island in the Great Salt Lake.
The road was inundated and the connection was closed in the mid 1980s. As
the waters subsided, it was apparenet that the earthen causeway had suffered
considerable damage while underwater for several years. Local governments in
Davis County pleaded with UDOT to rebuild the road, which had been U-127, but
the state refused. Ultimately, after several years of wrangling over the
cost, Davis County agreed to build the road and recoup its cost by charging a
modest access fee (read toll). The road reopened late in 1993 as a Davis
County road, and U-127 ends just short of that causeway. The fee is
collected in conjunction with the Antelope Island State Park entrance fee on
the eastern shore of the causeway. While the road does not appear on the
RMcN Atlas map of Utah, it does appear on the official UDOT map and the AAA
sheet map of the state.
As for SaltAir, it survived the flooding, and today it is a tourist
information center and GenX concert site, located just off I-80 at exit 104.
In all honestly, there is not much to behold there, but it is, if nothing
else, a good spot to stop and see the Great Salt Lake. There are bathing
facilites there, but most Utahns would not dare to swim there because the
lake smells foul (Not from pollution, just from nature, as its very common
among sinks in the Great Basin; locally the waethermen call it "Lake Stink",
and when there is a northwesterly wind, you can smell the lake all across the
Salt Lake Valley). At SaltAir, there is a small museum which features photos
of the facility when it surrounded by water, protected only by a sandbag
wall. The pictures even show a boat dock in front of the bulding where the
parking lot sits today!
Today, the lake level sits around 4203 feet. West of exit 99, I-80 was built
on twin causeways across the southernmost part of the lake, shortcutting the
crescent route of U-138 that old US 40 and the Victory Highway followed
through Grantsville. Even now, on the section of road between MP 90 and 95,
one gets the feeling of driving across the lake, as the highway is completely
surrounded by water. I have a picture I took last spring near MP 92 on my
I-80 page: http://members.aol.com/utahhwys/rte080.htm
One more thing, there is a misconception among many people who have never
been to the area that Salt Lake City sits on the shore of the Great Salt
Lake. In reality, downtown SLC is about 15 miles from the lake at its
closest point, and was never really threatened by the rising water. The
airport, on the western edge of development along the I-80 corridor, has its
runways at 4226 MSL.
- Dan Stober
West Jordan, Utah
(posted on DejaNews: let's see if it gets through this time!)
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Dave 2
>
> In article <36277CBB...@infowave.cutoffs.net>,
> Dave 2 <da...@infowave.cutoffs.net> wrote:
> >
> > What has happened in the years since 1985? The article speculated about the
> > effects should the lake continue to rise.
> >
> > Perhaps Dan Stober can provide some input.
>
> I can...
Thanks, I figured you'd be the person that could provide the definitive answer...
<snip>
> I-80 was built at a level of 4206 feet, and as the lake level rose, crews
> scrambled to raise the level of the roadway and keep it above water. Today,
> I-80 is at 4216 feet elevation. Also, since at that time no one was able to
> predict when the rising waters would subside, the State of Utah spent $60
> million to build a pumping station on the west side of the lake which would
> pull water out of the lake and dump it onto the salt falts of the west
> desert. The lake reversed directions before the pumps were ever used, and
> the pumps sit idle today.
The article mentioned the possibility of their construction. Oh well, maybe
someday they'll be needed.
> Another casualty of the rising waters was the Antelope Island Causeway which
> connects Davis County near Syracuse with the Island in the Great Salt Lake.....'
I take it the railroad causeway across the middle of the lake did not meet a
similar fate. The article mentioned that the existence of that causeway has
caused a drop in salinity in the southern half of the lake
>
> As for SaltAir, it survived the flooding, and today it is a tourist
> information center and GenX concert site, located just off I-80 at exit 104.
That's good to hear, one had to feel for sorry for the operator who had
started to rebuild Saltair, only to have it go under water.
> In all honestly, there is not much to behold there, but it is, if nothing
> else, a good spot to stop and see the Great Salt Lake. There are bathing
> facilites there, but most Utahns would not dare to swim there because the
> lake smells foul (Not from pollution, just from nature, as its very common
> among sinks in the Great Basin; locally the waethermen call it "Lake Stink",
> and when there is a northwesterly wind, you can smell the lake all across the
> Salt Lake Valley).
Mmmmm, that's a tourism draw. You need a more attractive name than "Lake Stink".
> At SaltAir, there is a small museum which features photos
> of the facility when it surrounded by water, protected only by a sandbag
> wall. The pictures even show a boat dock in front of the bulding where the
> parking lot sits today!
<snip>
>
> One more thing, there is a misconception among many people who have never
> been to the area that Salt Lake City sits on the shore of the Great Salt
> Lake. In reality, downtown SLC is about 15 miles from the lake at its
> closest point, and was never really threatened by the rising water. The
> airport, on the western edge of development along the I-80 corridor, has its
> runways at 4226 MSL.
Perhaps the article was overstating the case, but as you noted, it doesn't
take much of a rise in lake level to cause the *size* of the lake to increase.
> - Dan Stober
> West Jordan, Utah
BTW, are you familiar with the NG article? It makes interesting reading, if
you can find a copy.
On a related note, while looking at a couple of maps of the area (Utah
official and a Goshua (Sp?), I noticed that they appear to label I-80 "North
Temple Street".
yoo...@ibm.net
>
> hpds...@ihc.com wrote:
> >
> > In article <36277CBB...@infowave.cutoffs.net>,
> > Dave 2 <da...@infowave.cutoffs.net> wrote:>
>
> > Another casualty of the rising waters was the Antelope Island Causeway which
>
> I take it the railroad causeway across the middle of the lake did not meet a
> similar fate. The article mentioned that the existence of that causeway has
> caused a drop in salinity in the southern half of the lake
They actually blew up the causeway (two large
breaches, if I remember correctly), as the south
half of the lake was rising faster than the north
half, and there was more potential damage to
shoreline business on the south side. The south
half was collecting more runoff, therefore
the salinity was going down as well.
--Yooper
MaryKDan
I wrote:
>Also, since at that time no one was able to
>> predict when the rising waters would subside, the State of Utah spent $60
>> million to build a pumping station on the west side of the lake which would
>> pull water out of the lake and dump it onto the salt falts of the west
>> desert. The lake reversed directions before the pumps were ever used, and
>> the pumps sit idle today.
Dave 2 writes:
>The article mentioned the possibility of their construction. Oh well, maybe
>someday they'll be needed.
Maybe, but the enviro-wackos are starting to see if they can stop that. Just
within the past week, there has been some agitation to ensure that they are
never used in the future.
I wrote:
>> One more thing, there is a misconception among many people who have never
>> been to the area that Salt Lake City sits on the shore of the Great Salt
>> Lake. In reality, downtown SLC is about 15 miles from the lake at its
>> closest point, and was never really threatened by the rising water. The
>> airport, on the western edge of development along the I-80 corridor, has
>>its runways at 4226 MSL.
Dave 2 writes:
>Perhaps the article was overstating the case, but as you noted, it doesn't
>take much of a rise in lake level to cause the *size* of the lake to
>increase.
>
No, they weren't overstating the case. First, no one knew how far the water
was going to rise. It's kind of like when the stock drops 500 points -- no one
knows whether it means doom, or if will reverse the next day. SImilarly, with
hindsight, we know that SLC was not hurt by the rising lake, but back then,
they just didn't know what was going to happen.
Second, SLC was impacted by a severe runoff in May 1983 which forced them to
turn several downtown streets into rivers to allow the water to drain. There
was a good snowpack and late season storms which prevented any early runoff.
Then, a May heatwave pushed temps into the 90s, and down it all came. When
they were dealing with the lake, this episode and the Thistle flood incident
were fresh on their minds.
>BTW, are you familiar with the NG article? It makes interesting reading, if
>you can find a copy.
Yes, I read back when it came out (before I had ever even been to Utah), and I
used it as a sort of guide for some places and things I wanted to see when I
came to visit. I re-read the article at the library earlier this year.
>On a related note, while looking at a couple of maps of the area (Utah
>official and a Goshua (Sp?), I noticed that they appear to label I-80 "North
>Temple Street".
That very well could be. As I noted in my previous reply, old US 40 was on
North Temple Street. West of exit 114, I-80 was laid virtually over the top of
the old highway all the way to exit 99. The other poster had said that exit
104 (U-202) was "Temple Street," but "Temple Street" would refer to the freeway
at that point, not to the cross street, which is SaltAir Drive. FWIW, since
I-80 was finally completed in 1987, no one around here ever refers to any place
on I-80 west of the airport as North Temple.
Take care!