This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Just weeks after she died, the late former Utah House Speaker Becky Lockhart could soon have a stretch of Interstate 15 designated in her honor.

The House Transportation Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to endorse HB385 to deem most of I-15 in Utah County as the "Rebecca D. Lockhart section of the Veterans Memorial Highway." The bill now goes to the full House.

I-15 currently is named the Veterans Memorial Highway for its entire length through Utah. It would be co-named for Lockhart between Lehi and Spanish Fork, where Lockhart helped push for a $2 billion project to rebuild and widen the freeway.

Rep. Keven Stratton, R-Orem, sponsor of the bill, said Lockhart "was significantly involved in the construction and innovation of that stretch of highway," and the renaming would also "highlight her wonderful support of veterans."

Rep. Rich Cunningham, R-South Jordan, joked, "Our great Speaker Lockhart was always going 100 mph. Could you put that as part of the highway?"

Lockhart died on Jan. 17 at age 46 from the rare Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, just a couple weeks after she had left office. She was Utah's first female speaker of the House.

— Lee Davidson