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5.2 Community

South Salt Lake City is located in the heart of the Salt Lake Valley and occupies a land area of approximately 7 square miles with the Jordan River as its west border. The city has 23,038 residents and approximately 2,400 businesses. The city is known as the “Center of Industry.”

The incident occurred at the Roper Rail Yard located close to Interstates 15 and 80, in South Salt Lake City, Utah.

Map from Mapquest.com

Map is a screenshot from Mapquest. com.  The map shows the junction where Route 15 and Route 80 intersect. Route 15 runs North and South while Route 80 runs east to west.

Three drinking wells were located in the incident area, and as a result, one of the drinking wells is shut down for a year due to the leakage of chemicals into the ground.


February 6, 2006
Publication #FHWA-HOP-08-014