Misplaced Pages

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64-543: The first roadway across the Great Salt Lake Desert was completed in 1917 as a single-lane highway. It was added to the Utah state highway system in 1919, and replacement plans had begun to arise as soon as 1921. In 1923, the current cut-off was approved for construction and was opened to the traveling public in 1925. The United States Numbered Highway System brought the arrival of the U.S. Route 40 (US-40) designation to

128-587: A causeway with rock and gravel at a great cost. Along the route across the Great Salt Lake Desert, the railroad served the communities of Arinosa , Barro , and Salduro , which were also served by the new road. The Union Pacific Railroad merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the Western Pacific in December 1982. The Lincoln Highway was the first transcontinental auto route completed across

192-425: A closely guarded secret. Testing commenced in the summer of 1942. During World War II , DPG tested toxic agents, flamethrowers , chemical spray systems, biological warfare weapons, fire bombing tactics, antidotes for chemical agents, and protective clothing. During 1943 the " German Village " and " Japanese Village " set-piece domestic "hamlets" were built at Dugway, for practice in the fire-bombing of homes of

256-506: A designated National Highway System , but the system is completely unsigned, aside from the Trans-Canada routes. This makes Canada unique in that national highway designations are generally secondary to subnational routes. In Germany , state roads ( Landesstraßen or Staatsstraßen ) are a road class which is ranking below the federal road network ( Bundesstraßen ). The responsibility for road planning, construction and maintenance

320-474: A new gravel road along the salt flats to replace the single-lane highway in 1921; however this was met with resistance from county residents, citing the lack of need. Secretary of Agriculture Henry C. Wallace approved construction of the current two-lane Wendover Cut-Off in 1923, and the Western Pacific Railroad provided a discounted freight rate to bring in the construction materials to construct

384-526: A population of at least 10,000 inhabitants are urban roads (type D and E) under the jurisdiction of the relevant municipalities. The state highway that cross towns or villages with a population of less than 10,000 inhabitants are urban roads (type D and E) under the jurisdiction of the municipality, subject to authorization from ANAS . State highways in India are numbered highways that are laid and maintained by state governments . Mexico 's State Highway System

448-409: A report on September 28, 1994, which stated that between 1940 and 1974, DOD and other national security agencies performed "hundreds, perhaps thousands" of weapons tests and experiments involving hazardous substances. The quote from the study: ... Dugway Proving Ground is a military testing facility located approximately 80 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. For several decades, Dugway has been

512-515: A resident population of 795 as of the 2010 United States Census , all of whom lived in the community of Dugway, Utah , at its extreme eastern end. It is 13 mi (21 km) south of the 2,624 sq mi (6,796 km ) Utah Test and Training Range and together they form the largest block of overland contiguous special use airspace measured from surface or near surface within the continental U.S.(207 by 122 mi (333 by 196 km)). The transcontinental Lincoln Highway passed through

576-518: A secure and isolated environment. DPG also serves as a facility for US Army Reserve and US National Guard maneuver training, and US Air Force flight tests, mostly from nearby Hill Air Force Base in Clearfield. DPG is controlled by the United States Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC). The area has also been used by Army special forces for training in preparation for deployments to

640-608: A three-digit number designation, preceded by D . Provincial roads ( Turkish : İl yolu ) are secondary roads, maintained by respective local governments with the support of the KGM. The roads have a four-digit numbering grouped as two pairs, pairs are separated by a dash. First pair represents the license number of that province . State highways are generally a mixture of primary and secondary roads, although some are freeways (for example, State Route 99 in California, which links many of

704-732: Is 100 km/h, with reductions when one passes through a densely populated area. The highways in New Zealand are all state highways, and the network consists of SH 1 running the length of both main islands, SH 2–5 and 10–58 in the North Island, and SH 6–8 and 60–99 in the South Island. National and provincial highways are numbered approximately north to south. State Highway 1 runs the length of both islands. Local highways ( Korean :  지방도 ; Hanja :  地方道 ; RR :  Jibangdo ; MR :  Chipangdo ) are

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768-482: Is a system of urban and state routes constructed and maintained by each Mexican state. The main purpose of the state networks is to serve as a feeder system to the federal highway system. All states except the Federal District operate a road network. Each state marks these routes with a white shield containing the abbreviated name of the state plus the route number. New Zealand state highways are national highways –

832-511: Is divided into states and has state highways. For example, the longest highway in the state of São Paulo , the Rodovia Raposo Tavares , is designated as SP-270 and SP-295 . Canada is divided into provinces and territories, each of which maintains its own system of provincial or territorial highways, which form the majority of the country's highway network. There is also the national transcontinental Trans-Canada Highway system, which

896-452: Is either numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province . A road numbered by a state or province falls below numbered national highways ( Canada being a notable exception to this rule) in the hierarchy (route numbers are used to aid navigation, and may or may not indicate ownership or maintenance). Roads maintained by a state or province include both nationally numbered highways and un-numbered state highways. Depending on

960-517: Is free to choose a different marker, and most states have. States may choose a design theme relevant to its state (such as an outline of the state itself) to distinguish state route markers from interstate, county, or municipal route markers. Dugway Proving Ground Dugway Proving Ground ( DPG ) is a United States Army facility established in 1942 to test biological and chemical weapons , located about 85 miles (137 km) southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah and 13 miles (21 km) south of

1024-596: Is marked by distinct signs, but has no uniform numeric designation across the country. In the eastern provinces, for instance, an unnumbered (though sometimes with a named route branch) Trans-Canada route marker is co-signed with a numbered provincial sign, with the provincial route often continuing alone outside the Trans-Canada Highway section. However, in the western provinces, the two parallel Trans-Canada routes are consistently numbered with Trans-Canada route markers; as Highways 1 and 16 respectively. Canada also has

1088-563: Is not a road class. The Strade Statali , abbreviated SS, is the Italian national network of state highways. The total length for the network is about 25.000 km (15.534 mi). The Italian state highway network are maintained by ANAS . From 1928 until 1946 state highways were maintained by Azienda Autonoma Statale della Strada (AASS). The next level of roads below Strada Statali is Strada Regionale ("regional roads"). The routes of some state highways derive from ancient Roman roads , such as

1152-406: Is vested in the federal states of Germany. Most federal states use the term Landesstraße (marked with 'L'), while for historical reasons Saxony and Bavaria use the term Staatsstraße (marked with 'S'). The appearance of the shields differs from state to state. The term Land-es-straße should not be confused with Landstraße , which describes every road outside built-up areas and

1216-514: The Bonneville Speedway north of the Interstate. Between SR-58 and Leppy Pass Road, the highway is designated Federal Aid Route 2654. Further south, a rest area was built along the southern side of I-80, however no road access was provided between the rest area and the cut-off. Metaphor: The Tree of Utah was built on the northern side of I-80 in the middle of the salt flats further east from

1280-584: The Genesis , a NASA spacecraft, was directed to impact into the desert floor of the Dugway Proving Ground because the topsoil there is like talcum powder, or moondust, and would likely cushion the troubled spacecraft's impact. The Genesis spacecraft's accelerometer had been installed backwards, which caused the spacecraft to malfunction upon re-entry to Earth's atmosphere preventing the originally planned air retrieval. On January 26, 2011, Dugway Proving Ground

1344-671: The Korean War , under Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Speers Ponder, and in 1954 was confirmed as a permanent Department of the Army installation. In October 1958, the United States Army Chemical Center, Maryland, moved the U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Weapons School to Dugway Proving Ground. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Project Bellwether —a study of weaponized, mosquito-spread infections—was based at DPG. From 1985 to 1991, Dugway Proving Ground

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1408-574: The Pony Express Trail , used between 1860 and 1861 by the Pony Express . Early Lincoln Highway guides advised that travelers whose vehicles became disabled near Fish Springs could set fire to tumbleweed , as it could be seen by rescuers up to 20 miles (32 km) away. The original alignment was then routed through various ranches and mining towns such as Callao , Gold Hill , and Ibapah to Ely , and not through Wendover. The "Goodyear Cutoff"

1472-609: The Strada statale 7 Via Appia , which broadly follows the route of the Roman road of the same name . Other examples are the Strada statale 1 Via Aurelia ( Via Aurelia ) and the Strada statale 4 Via Salaria ( Via Salaria ). Since the reforms following the birth of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, the State took charge of the construction and maintenance of a primary network of roads for connections between

1536-781: The War in Afghanistan . In 1941, the US Army Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) determined it needed a testing facility more remote than the US Army's Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland . The CWS surveyed the Western U.S. for a new location to conduct its tests, and in the spring of 1942, construction of Dugway Proving Ground began, including the establishment of Michael Army Airfield . Since its founding, much of Dugway Proving Ground activity has been

1600-734: The contiguous United States . The opening ceremony of the highway was held in Salduro. The Engineering News-Record called the road "a remarkable piece of construction." The Lincoln Highway Association lobbied the U.S. Government to get the Lincoln Highway route to Ely added to the United States Numbered Highway System after the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 , however the Wendover Cut-off along

1664-516: The 2,624-square-mile (6,800 km ) Utah Test and Training Range . Dugway Proving Ground is located about 85 mi (137 km) southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah , in southern Tooele County and just north of Juab County . It encompasses 801,505 acres (1,252.352 sq mi; 3,243.58 km ) of the Great Salt Lake Desert , an area the size of the state of Rhode Island , and is surrounded on three sides by mountain ranges. It had

1728-455: The Dugway sheep incident (see below). In total, almost 500,000 lb (230,000 kg) of nerve agent were dispersed during open-air tests. There were also tests at Dugway involving other weapons of mass destruction, including 328 open-air tests of biological weapons, 74 dirty bomb tests, and eight furnace heatings of nuclear material under open-air conditions to simulate the dispersal of fallout in

1792-526: The GAO report. According to the report, the DOD "had not fully identified the infrastructure capabilities required to address threats, had not planned to identify potential duplication without considering information from existing federal studies, and had not updated its guidance and planning process to include specific responsibilities and time frames for risk assessments." Following the public attention drawn to Area 51 in

1856-577: The Great Salt Lake Desert. However after some controversy, the route across western Utah was later succeeded by the Victory Highway . The original alignment of the Lincoln Highway was about 40 miles (64 km) south of the Victory Highway and present-day I-80, and is now partially inaccessible because it lies inside the Dugway Proving Ground . The original route west of Dugway was part of

1920-562: The National Highway or National Route systems are marked under the State Route system. They can be recognised by blue shield markers. They were practically adopted in all states by the end of the 1980s, and in some states, some less important National Routes were downgraded to State Routes. Each state has or had its own numbering scheme, but do not duplicate National Route numbers in the same state, or nearby routes in another state. As with

1984-468: The National Routes and National Highways, State Routes are being phased out in most states and territories in favour of alphanumeric routes. However, despite the fact that Victoria has fully adopted alphanumeric routes in regional areas, state route numbers are still used extensively within the city of Melbourne as a part of its Metropolitan Route Numbering Scheme . Brazil is another country that

Wendover Cut-off - Misplaced Pages Continue

2048-514: The US-50 ;Alt designation was deleted by AASHTO, also in concurrence with UDOT, on August 27, 1976, in effect turning the cut-off over to Tooele County as a county road . The entire route is in Tooele County . State highway A state highway , state road , or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway , provincial road , or provincial route ) is usually a road that

2112-519: The Victory Highway was selected instead. The Victory Highway Association called the cut-off the "shortest and most feasible route across the Great Salt Lake Desert". The US-40 designation was applied to the Wendover Cut-off on October 20, 1926, the same day the Lincoln Highway Association conceded and approved the routing of the Lincoln Highway along the cut-off, abandoning their southerly route to Ely. The US-50 designation had been applied to

2176-545: The case of meltdown of aeronautic nuclear reactors. On December 13, 2019, the U.S. Air Force said it had kept the Ultra Long Endurance Aircraft Platform (Ultra LEAP) at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah airborne for two days during testing of the surveillance drone at the site. In March 1968, 6,249 sheep died in Skull Valley , an area nearly thirty miles from Dugway's testing sites. When examined,

2240-619: The cities of the Central Valley , Route 128 in Massachusetts, or parts of Route 101 in New Hampshire). Each state has its own system for numbering and its own marker. The default marker is a white circle containing a black sans serif number (often inscribed in a black square or slightly rounded square), according to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). However each state

2304-472: The construction of I-80, the cut-off was identified as a frontage road for the new controlled-access highway . 160 thousand dollars (equivalent to $ 1.2 million in 2023) was spent to repave the cut-off during construction of I-80. The US-40 designation was deleted by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), in concurrence with UDOT, on August 18, 1974, and

2368-614: The cut-off by 1939, and by 1957 the US-50 designation had given way to US-50 Alt. In 1959, radiation clouds crossed the cut-off, spreading radiation between Knolls and Wendover from nuclear tests being conducted at the nearby Dugway Proving Ground . Estimates by the Deseret News put the exposure at 215.5 curies (7.97 TBq); by comparison the Three Mile Island accident only released 15 curies (0.56 TBq) of radiation. During

2432-585: The cut-off near its western terminus. By comparison, traffic on the parallel I-80 between the Nevada state line and Leppy Pass Road (the Bonneville Speedway exit, and the end of Federal Aid Route 2654 on the cut-off) ranges between 6,765 and 7,345 vehicles per day. The Western Pacific Railroad line, part of the Feather River Route , that parallels the cut-off was built between 1906 and 1907, filling

2496-403: The cut-off was turned over to the county . The Wendover Cut-off begins at a T-intersection with concurrent Utah State Route 58 (SR-58) and I-80 Business in the eastern portion of Wendover , south of Danger Cave . The cut-off travels due east by I-80 to the north and the now Union Pacific Central Corridor railroad tracks to the south. Leppy Pass Road, exit 4 on I-80, provides access to

2560-474: The cut-off. Sodium chloride was used as a binder in the road which was under construction by October 1924, and the $ 380,000 (equivalent to $ 5.3 million in 2023) road was opened by Secretary of Agriculture William M. Jardine and Bureau of Public Roads commissioner Thomas MacDonald on June 13, 1925. The cost of the road was part of an estimated $ 1.07 billion (equivalent to $ 14.8 billion in 2023) 57,063-mile-long (91,834 km) road network across

2624-565: The dead sheep later definitively identified the presence of VX. The Army never admitted liability, but did pay the ranchers for their losses. On the official record, the claim was for 4,372 "disabled" sheep, of which about 2,150 were either killed outright by the VX exposure or were so critically injured that they needed to be euthanized on-site by veterinarians. Another 1,877 sheep were "temporarily" injured, or showed no signs of injury but ultimately were not marketable due to their potential exposure. All of

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2688-431: The early 1990s, UFOlogists and concerned citizens have suggested that whatever covert operations may have been underway at that location, if any, were subsequently transferred to DPG. The Deseret News reported that Dave Rosenfeld, president of Utah UFO Hunters, claimed but provided no proof for "Numerous UFOs have been stored and reported in the area in and around Dugway ... [military aircraft can't account for] all

2752-417: The exposed sheep that survived the initial exposure were eventually euthanized by the ranchers, since even the potential for exposure had rendered the sheep permanently unsalable for either meat or wool. The incident, coinciding with the birth of the environmental movement and anti- Vietnam War protests, created an uproar in Utah and the international community. The U.S. General Accounting Office issued

2816-642: The first report, the military divulged that the mis-shipments had been broader than initially reported and launched an investigation. Dugway was involved in developing a test to identify biological threats in the field. In September 2018, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released findings of an investigation into the anthrax shipping lapses made at Dugway. The investigation looked into whether "systemic oversight changes regarding biosecurity have since been implemented across DOD facilities. The findings are mixed." The U.S. Army had sought 35 specific changes, but only 18 of those 35 changes have been made, as of

2880-480: The highway, on the same day the Lincoln Highway Association agreed to abandon their southerly route to Ely , and route the Lincoln Highway along the cut-off. Later, the cut-off was also designated as part of US-50 and US-50 Alternate (US-50 Alt). Upon the completion of the parallel Interstate 80 (I-80), the previous U.S. Route designations were deleted from the United States Numbered Highway System, and

2944-717: The lockdown was in response to the temporary loss of a vial containing VX nerve agent . The lockdown was lifted on January 27 following recovery of the material. The incident was described simply as a mislabeling problem. Dugway Proving Ground was also home to the High Resolution Fly's Eye Cosmic Ray Detector , which discovered the first ultra-high-energy cosmic ray . Dugway is home to several radio telemetry and tracking radar (i.e. RIR-777, TPQ-39 (Ver. V) and MPQ-39) sites which track national flight assets during flight tests at UTTR . Activities included aerial nerve agent testing. According to reports from New Scientist , Dugway

3008-531: The main cities; in 1865 the Lanza law introduced the classification of roads between national, provincial and municipal (see Annex F, art.10) and the Royal Decree of 17 November 1865, n. 2633 listed the first 38 national roads. Italian state highways are identified by a number and a name. In road signs and maps the number is preceded by the acronym SS, an acronym for strada statale ("state road"). The nomenclature of

3072-477: The next important roads under the National highways . The number has two, three, or four digits. Highways with two-digit numbers routes are called State-funded local highways. State roads ( Turkish : Devlet yolu ) are primary roads, mostly under the responsibility of General Directorate of Highways (KGM) except in metropolitan city centers where the responsibility falls into the local government. The roads have

3136-414: The present site of the Dugway Proving Ground, and is the only section of the old highway closed to the public. At least one old wooden bridge over a creek still stands. The name Dugway comes from a technique of digging a trench into a hillside to create a flat surface along which a wagon can travel. Dugway's mission is to test United States and Allied biological and chemical weapon defense systems in

3200-420: The rest area. Before terminating at I-80 the highway veers north and forms a diamond interchange in the unincorporated community of Knolls . A frontage road continues on the northern side of I-80 after this interchange. The land that the cut-off was built upon was once compared to as being "as flat as a billiard table ." Unlike more traditional steel or iron culverts , the cut-off uses all timber culverts, as

3264-566: The salt erodes the metal ones too quickly. Although maintained as part of the Tooele County road network, the portion of the cut-off designated Federal Aid Route 2654 is surveyed by the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to measure traffic volumes. This is expressed in terms of average annual daily traffic (AADT), a measure of traffic volume for any average day of the year. In 2012, UDOT calculated between 240 and 250 vehicles used

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3328-452: The sheep were found to have been poisoned by an organophosphate chemical. The sickening of the sheep, known as the Dugway sheep incident , coincided with several open-air tests of the nerve agent VX at Dugway. Local attention focused on the Army, which initially denied that VX had caused the deaths, instead blaming the local use of organophosphate pesticides on crops. Necropsies conducted on

3392-559: The site of testing for various chemical and biological agents. From 1951 through 1969, hundreds, perhaps thousands of open-air tests using bacteria and viruses that cause disease in human, animals, and plants were conducted at Dugway ... It is unknown how many people in the surrounding vicinity were also exposed to potentially harmful agents used in open-air tests at Dugway. More specifically, there are reports that certain nerve agents such as tetrodotoxin and Datura stramonium have been tested at this military base. The complete nerve agent

3456-631: The state highways managed by ANAS generally follows the SS n scheme, where n is a number ranging from 1 ( Aurelia ) up to 700 (of the Royal Palace of Caserta ) depending on the date of establishment of the state highway. Newly built ANAS roads, not yet classified, are identified by the acronym NSA, an acronym for nuova strada ANAS ("new ANAS road"). State highways can be technically defined as main extra-urban roads (type B road) or as secondary extra-urban roads (type C road). State highways that cross towns with

3520-416: The state, "state highway" may be used for one meaning and "state road" or "state route" for the other. In some countries such as New Zealand , the word "state" is used in its sense of a sovereign state or country. By this meaning a state highway is a road maintained and numbered by the national government rather than local authorities. Australia 's important urban and inter-regional routes not covered by

3584-628: The types in urbanized areas of Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire 's Home Islands . In October 1943, DPG established biological warfare facilities at UTTR's range telemetry and tracking radar installation, which is an isolated area within DPG known as the Granite Peak Installation . DPG was slowly phased out after World War II, becoming inactive in August 1946. The base was reactivated during

3648-533: The unknowns seen in the area. It might be that our star visitors are keeping an eye on Dugway too. ... [Dugway is] the new Area 51. And probably the new military spaceport." Dugway Proving Ground has often made light of the rumors, satirizing the conspiracy on their official social media posts. A 2021 community event at the base had shooting targets with alien profiles set up by the base's police department for children to target with an airsoft gun . A 2023 5K run & 10K run Halloween costume race announced at

3712-518: The word "state" in this sense means "government" or "public" (as in state housing and state schools ), not a division of a country. New Zealand's state highway system is a nationwide network of roads covering the North Island and the South Island . As of 2006, just under 100 roads have a "State Highway" designation. The NZ Transport Agency administers them. The speed limit for most state highways

3776-546: Was code-named "VX"—one of a series of "V" nerve agents tested at the base. In May 2015 it was revealed that Dugway lab had inadvertently shipped live anthrax bacillus to locations around the country. Shipped samples, it was said, were supposed to be inert. Labs receiving the live samples were in Texas, Maryland, Wisconsin, Delaware, New Jersey, Tennessee, New York, California and Virginia, the Associated Press reported. Days after

3840-523: Was constructed after $ 30 thousand (equivalent to $ 700,000 in 2023) was approved by the legislature, and another $ 10 thousand (equivalent to $ 200,000 in 2023) was approved by the Salt Lake City Council in September 1914. Heavy equipment from the nearby Utah-Salduro Company , a potash company, were used during the construction of the single-lane roadway. Tooele County had originally proposed

3904-617: Was home to the Ranger School 's short-lived Desert Training Phase. It was first known as the Desert Ranger Division (DRD) until redesignated the Ranger Training Brigade 's 7th Ranger Training Battalion in 1987, and taught students basic desert survival skills and small unit tactics. The program was later moved back to its original site at Fort Bliss, Texas , in 1991, where it was deactivated in 1995. On September 8, 2004,

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3968-484: Was partially constructed in 1919 as a more direct route between Gold Hill and Dugway. In December 1919, the Utah State Legislature approved the newly constructed single-lane Victory Highway as part of the state's highway system. The Victory Highway was a 3,271-mile-long (5,264 km) interstate highway linking New York City to San Francisco , named in honor of those who served during World War I . The road

4032-420: Was placed on lockdown. Al Vogel, a public affairs specialist for the installation, would only say that the lockdown began at 5:24 p.m. Employees were not allowed to leave, and those coming to work were not allowed in. Vogel said there were no injuries, no damage and no threats reported at the proving ground. There were about 1,200 to 1,400 people at Dugway when the lockdown occurred. It was later announced that

4096-457: Was still producing quantities of anthrax spores as late as 2015 to be used to develop anthrax testing detection and countermeasures, more than four decades after the United States renounced biological weapons, and shipping material intended to be inert to military bases and military contractors around the globe. There were at least 1,100 other chemical tests at Dugway during the time period of

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