Moving here Toquerville
The road the town waited decades for
The Toquerville Parkway, and what the bypass finally changed.
The bypass Toquerville first asked for back in 1969 is built and open. State Route 17 now runs along the new parkway on the west side of town instead of down the old pioneer main street. Here is the honest story of how the road got made, and what it changed for the two sides of Toquerville it left behind.
By Scott Buehler, Toquerville local
Updated September 2026
The short answer
The Toquerville Parkway is the roughly 4.5 mile bypass that now carries State Route 17, and the Zion traffic on it, around the west side of town instead of straight down the historic main street. It is finished and open: the road opened in the summer of 2025, and SR-17 was rerouted onto it that September, so the through traffic that used to grind down Toquerville Boulevard is gone. The town first asked for a bypass back in 1969, so this was decades in the making, not a sudden project. The lasting effect is that Toquerville reads as two places under one name now: a quiet pioneer core the road pulled the traffic away from, and a new growth corridor along the parkway where nearly all the building is happening. Which side of the road a given property sits on is the single most useful thing to sort out before you buy here.
The road today
The finished road, and the main street it emptied out.
The parkway is a four lane road running about 4.5 miles along the west edge of Toquerville. It leaves I-15 at the Anderson Junction interchange on the north end and curves south to rejoin the old State Route 17 below town, so a driver headed to Zion never has to touch the historic core. Construction ran through the early 2020s, the ribbon was cut in the summer of 2025, and SR-17 was shifted onto the parkway that September. The state is taking the road over as the realigned SR-17.
What that did to the old main street is the part residents notice most. Toquerville Boulevard used to funnel the through traffic to Zion National Park, several million visitors a year, straight past pioneer homes on a road never built for it. The parkway pulls an estimated 85 percent of that traffic away. With it gone, the boulevard's speed limit dropped from 40 to 25 miles per hour, and the old core is quieter than it has been in a long time.
That is the single most important thing to understand about Toquerville now. The road did not just move some cars off a street. It split the town into two settings that feel genuinely different to live in, and most of the rest of this page is about telling them apart.
Where it takes you
A faster way out of town, in every direction.
The reason the parkway matters for daily life, and not just for Zion tourists, is the Anderson Junction interchange at its north end. That is a full I-15 on and off ramp about three miles from the middle of town, which gives Toquerville quick freeway access without any home having to sit up against the freeway itself. For a small town this far south, that combination is unusual and genuinely useful.
From that interchange, St. George is about 24 miles and 25 minutes south, where the region's larger hospitals, retail and higher education sit, including Utah Tech University and Dixie Technical College. Cedar City and Southern Utah University are roughly 35 minutes north up I-15. Zion National Park is a short drive east on State Route 9 through La Verkin and Hurricane. The parkway is simply what the Zion traffic uses now to get around the town instead of through it.
Drive times from Toquerville
| Destination | Miles by road | Drive time |
|---|---|---|
| Anderson Junction (I-15) | About 3 miles | About 5 minutes |
| Hurricane | About 8 miles | About 12 minutes |
| St. George | About 24 miles | About 25 minutes |
| Cedar City | About 33 miles | About 35 minutes |
| Zion National Park, Springdale | About 33 miles | About 40 minutes |
The long story behind it
A bypass the town asked for since 1969, and what it finally unlocked.
This road was a long time coming. Toquerville first asked the state for a bypass in 1969, then again in 1985, as Zion traffic kept climbing and a narrow pioneer main street kept absorbing it. At one point the state's answer was a wider highway driven straight through the middle of town, a plan that would have taken about 11 of the original pioneer homes. The town held out for a route around the west side instead, and the parkway is the result of that decades long patience, planned and built in phases through the early 2020s and opened in 2025.
Getting the traffic off the old street was only half of what the road did. The parkway also opened land on the west side that had almost no access before, and that is where nearly all of Toquerville's new building is now happening. A new master planned community is being built along the road, and the interchange area is starting to draw new development. Plans and phasing change, so confirm the current status of any specific project.
The same growth is tied to water. Toquerville runs its own secondary system for irrigation, fed by the Ash Creek Project, which is also filling the new Chief Toquer Reservoir nearby. That is a lot of change to land at once on a town this small, and it lands almost entirely on the parkway side. The historic core, its streets, lots and water long since settled, mostly just got quieter.
The parkway in four numbers
~4.5 mi
of new four lane road on the west side of town
1969
the year Toquerville first asked for a bypass
~85%
of through traffic pulled off the old main street
2025
the year SR-17 was rerouted onto the parkway
This content is for general information only. It is not legal, tax, investment or financial advice. Project details, water arrangements and construction timelines shift as Toquerville City, the Washington County Water Conservancy District and the state each update their own records on their own schedule, so confirm anything material, including which side of the parkway and which water system a specific address uses, directly with the relevant office before relying on it, and consult a qualified professional for guidance specific to your situation.
Scott Buehler
Moving Utah About Scott
Keep reading
The rest of Toquerville, beyond the road.
Things to do
The top 7, ranked
The falls, the new reservoir, the old winery, and the rest of what is worth stopping for, ranked.
Read the guideThe waterfall
Toquerville Falls
A genuine desert waterfall on La Verkin Creek, reached by a road that turns back anything but high clearance.
Read the guideThe new lake
Chief Toquer Reservoir
The new lake the Ash Creek Project is filling nearby, and the honest word on when it actually opens.
Read the guideThe history
The Wine Mission
Why six families were sent here in 1858 to grow grapes, and the winery Brigham Young asked for by name.
Read the guideThe interchange
Anderson Junction
The I-15 interchange at the head of the parkway, and the commercial growth gathering around it.
Read the guideThe companion
Toquerville, from a local
The falls, the reservoir, the wine mission, and the whole town in one place, from a local.
Read the pageQuick answers
The parkway, answered.
Yes. The parkway opened in the summer of 2025, and State Route 17 was rerouted onto it that September, so it now carries the through traffic that used to run down Toquerville Boulevard. It is a roughly 4.5 mile, four lane road, and the state is taking it over as the realigned SR-17.
A roughly 4.5 mile, four lane bypass on the west side of Toquerville. It runs from Anderson Junction at the I-15 interchange south to rejoin the old State Route 17 below town, skirting the historic core instead of running through it.
To move Zion National Park and other through traffic off Toquerville Boulevard, the narrow pioneer main street it used to funnel down. The town had asked for a bypass since 1969 and again in 1985. An earlier state plan for a wider road straight through town would have taken about 11 pioneer homes, and the parkway routes around them instead.
Yes. It pulls an estimated 85 percent of through traffic, including the millions of Zion visitors who used to pass through each year, off Toquerville Boulevard. With that traffic gone the main street speed limit dropped from 40 to 25 miles per hour, and the historic core is noticeably quieter than it was.
At Anderson Junction, the I-15 interchange at the north end of the parkway. That connection is also where much of the town's newer development is concentrated, along the parkway corridor.
The idea goes back decades, with the town requesting a bypass as early as 1969 and again in 1985. The modern road took roughly a decade of planning and phased work, with major construction running from 2022 to its 2025 opening.
It splits the town into two clearly different settings. The historic core along Toquerville Boulevard is the quiet, established side, with pioneer era homes and little new construction. The parkway corridor is where nearly all the new building is happening, along the parkway corridor. Confirm which side of the road a specific property sits on before assuming which one you are buying into.
A new master planned community is being built along the parkway. Plans and phasing change, so confirm the status and type of any specific project with the town before you rely on it.
About 24 miles and 25 minutes to St. George by way of the Anderson Junction interchange, and roughly 35 minutes north to Cedar City and Southern Utah University. Zion National Park is a short drive east on State Route 9, and the parkway is what the Zion bound traffic now uses to skirt the town.
One road split the town in two. Knowing which side you are buying matters.
Holding both a real estate license and a mortgage lending license lets me run the financing and the historic core versus parkway corridor question together, instead of handing you back and forth between two people. In a town this newly divided by one road, what actually sold last month on each side tells you far more than any automated citywide estimate can.
Or call me: (435) 357-4345or send me a message
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