This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated.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 is about to be honored by having a stretch of Interstate 15 co-named for her.

The Senate voted 26-0 Thursday to pass HB385 to dub most of I-15 in Utah County as the "Rebecca D. Lockhart section of the Veterans Memorial Highway." The bill now goes to Gov. Gary Herbert for his signature.

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 earlier that 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."

Lockhart died 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