The Utah Department of Transportation is considering five options for where to build a bypass west of Heber City, and the next step is to choose a “preferred alternative.” Earlier this week, the project team announced people will have to wait until next year for that selection.
The project is meant to take traffic off U.S. Highway 40, which doubles as Heber City’s Main Street. The release said the team is studying how the different possible road designs would serve traffic as Heber grows over the next few decades.
As of last March, UDOT expected to pick a design by late summer 2024, according to project manager Craig Hancock. He said the “preferred alternative” won’t necessarily be a final decision about where to build the road if the late, higher-level stages of the study uncover reasons to change plans.
Three options on the table resemble a design Wasatch County has tweaked since 2007 — a belt route around Heber City to draw highway drivers around the neighborhoods. Such a route could begin at U.S. Highway 40 just south of the city and reconnect to the highway just north of town.
In recent years, UDOT has brought forth another concept. In two out of the five designs still under consideration, the bypass road would continue much farther through open farm lands known as the North Fields, all the way to River Road.
At the beginning of 2023, UDOT released nearly 450 public comments it reviewed during earlier phases of the study. Many of the comments discouraged UDOT from choosing one of road designs that travel the full length of the North Fields. Many others said that would be the best way to reduce traffic.
