WIP Attempt to grow Western Fremont beans over in the east

Phaseolus coccineus, known as runner bean,[2] scarlet runner bean,[2] or multiflora bean,[2] is a plant in the legume or Fabaceae family.

It is grown both as a food plant and an ornamental plant.

Description

This species originated from the mountains of Central America. Most varieties have red flowers and multicolored seeds (though some have white flowers and white seeds), and they are often grown as ornamental plants. The vine can grow to 3 m (9 ft) or more in length.[3]

It differs from the common bean (P. vulgaris) in several respects: the cotyledons stay in the ground during germination, and the plant is a perennial vine with tuberous roots (though it is usually treated as an annual).

The first attempt to build a modern trade route through the area is credited to William Jackson Palmer, founder of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RG). Palmer started a project in 1880 . . .

Disagreements in the company led to two proposals . . .

Due to disagreements in management and poor communication, construction began on both routes. It was soon obvious that the southern route was unfeasible given the remote area, technology available at the time and the rough terrain of the San Rafael Swell. The D&RG spent $217,470 (1883, equivalent to $4.6 million in 2007) on the project before declaring it a failure. One of the accounts in the book Utah Ghost Rails states the railroad fired the lead surveyor, even though the workers had graded a path past the San Rafael Reef.[25] This route today is a jeep trail. According to a sign placed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), had the southern route succeeded it would have been the shortest transcontinental railroad in the U.S.[25]

Construction resumed in 1901 on a portion of the southern route, to build a spur line to service coal mines on the Wasatch Plateau. The railroad branched from an existing line at Salina and traveled east up Salina Canyon. After the mines closed, the railroad bed was used to improve State Route 10, between Salina and Fremont Junction. I-70 would later use the railroad bed for a path across the Wasatch Plateau.[25]
Plans for Interstate 70

By the time the Interstate Highway System was in the planning stages, no paved road had yet entered the San Rafael Swell.[26] The established highway through the area was US-6/US-50 which, like the railroad, entered Utah from Colorado and turned north around the swell.[12]
Panorama of a desert landscape with a canyon running through the center of the picture.

(Image of Eagle Canyon as seen from I-70)

As first proposed in 1956, the western terminus of I-70 was Denver, Colorado.[1] Officials from Colorado pressured the federal government to extend the plans for I-70 further west. After several discussions with Utah officials, Utah supported an extension that would follow US-6/50 (now US-6), to connect with I-15 at Spanish Fork. This proposal would connect the Salt Lake City area with Denver. While accepting the Colorado/Utah proposal, federal planners also decided to show a modified proposal, with the terminus of I-70 at Cove Fort, to planners at the Department of the Army. The planners opposed the extension to Salt Lake, but felt the modified proposal would benefit the U.S. Army, by providing a better connection to southern California. The new route would shorten the distance between Los Angeles and Denver by about 200 miles (320 km). The route to Cove Fort was approved on October 18, 1957. A general announcement was made, with no prior notice given to Utah officials of the modification. The commissioner of the Bureau of Public Roads later admitted that the lack of notice was intentional, fearing infighting if the bureau did not announce a final decision.[1]

A state historian stated the news hit Utah "like a bombshell". Except for the officials in Utah that represented the area, most opposed a freeway that would serve no populated areas in the state. The route was mocked as a public relations blunder and a "road to nowhere".[1][9] Utah officials attempted to revert plans to their preferred alternative, but later resigned to construct I-70 on the federally selected route. Governor George Dewey Clyde concluded, "Utah had no choice but to accept the Cove Fort routing, or have none at all."[1] Even attempts to route the freeway slightly north, to serve more cities in Emery County, were blocked. Federal planners insisted the freeway pass Green River on a southwest course and not turn north.[1] Even today, there is no direct interstate link between Salt Lake and Denver. Motorists must choose between the two lane routes (US-6 or US-40) or detour on I-80 through Wyoming.[27]

(Construction Shield for State Route 4)
Some non-contiguous portions of I-70 were temporarily signed as SR-4.

With the plans for I-70 extended, a transcontinental route would again be attempted across the San Rafael Swell. The area west of Green River was so remote that survey crews followed wild horses with jeeps to survey parts of the route. According to a story told at the highway's dedication, by an engineer who surveyed the highway, his group was approached by a sheep rancher and asked what they were doing. The rancher fell over laughing when he was told they were building a freeway.[28]

The survey crew did not use the route of the railroad past the San Rafael Reef. However, they did use the route of the railroad across the Wasatch Plateau. The construction crews destroyed two of four tunnels when the bed was widened for the freeway. The two remaining tunnels are visible just south of the freeway and are used by a frontage road.[25]

Some portions of I-70 over the Pavant Range and Wasatch Plateau were opened to traffic before the portion over the San Rafael Swell. These portions were temporarily signed as State Route 4.[3] The portion over the San Rafael Swell opened to traffic in 1970, finally making the Utah portion of I-70 a drivable route.[1]

Interstate 70 was dedicated on December 5, 1970, at the Ghost Rocks view area inside the swell, even though it would take another 20 years to fully complete the freeway.[1] At the ceremony the mayors of cities recently made neighbors, including Grand Junction, Colorado, introduced themselves. Then Governor Calvin L. Rampton noted that I-70 was the longest road the U.S. had built over a completely new route since the Alaska Highway, during World War II. It was also noted this was the longest piece of the Interstate Highway System to open at a given time.[1]
hundreds of sandstone hoodoos protruding from the desert floor.


Goblin Valley State Park just south of I-70

Initially only two lanes, now the eastbound lanes, through the swell were constructed. The official highway map for Utah noted the new freeway, but qualified its existence with the words "two lanes open".[3] The first portions of I-70 to be constructed to Interstate Highway standards were along the non-disputed portion of the route east of Green River.[3]

The Utah portion of I-70 was not completed to Interstate Highway standards until 1990, when the second Eagle Canyon bridge was dedicated. A second dedication ceremony was held at the bridge declaring the Utah portion of I-70 complete. Archie Hamilton, one of three engineers who worked for Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) long enough to see I-70 progress from conception to completion, said the most memorable moment was seeing the excavation at Spotted Wolf Canyon. He said before construction began, he could stand in one spot and touch both sides of the canyon. To carve the first 8 miles (13 km) through the canyon required excavating 3,500,000 cubic yards (2,700,000 m3) of rock. It was estimated construction cost for the San Rafael Swell portion was $183.5 million, $105.5 million (1970, $595 million in 2008) to build the first two lanes, and $78 million (1990, $130 million in 2008) to construct the rest.[28][29] At the 1970 dedication, it was noted the cost of land acquisition helped to offset the cost of the massive excavation. UDOT acquired the right of way to build the majority of I-70 from the BLM at the lowest cost per mile of any highway in Utah.[1]

Goblin Valley was prominently featured in the movie Galaxy Quest as an alien planet. In the movie, the crew of the Protector stops at a rock planet to get a new beryllium sphere, and Captain Nesmith battles a rock monster. Though at the time, the access to Goblin Valley State Park was partly unpaved, the fees paid by the production company were used to upgrade the entire access road to asphalt pavement.