Heber City

Heber councilmember says bypass ‘can’t come soon enough’

KPCW | By Grace Doerfler

Published January 25, 2024 at 2:53 PM MST

A Heber City leader called the volume of traffic through Main Street Wasatch County’s “most important problem to resolve.” But local leaders’ views on the bypass vary.

With Wasatch County anticipating the likely return of the Olympics in just 10 years, plans for a bypass road to pull traffic away from Heber’s Main Street have taken on a new sense of urgency.

Leaders say, for the road to happen, everyone in the region needs to be ready to collaborate with the Utah Department of Transportation.

Heber City Councilmember Mike Johnston described the need for the bypass in strong terms.

“This is our biggest, most important problem to resolve is the amount of traffic that comes right through the middle of our town. It is really holding us back as being a place that people want to be,” he said. “It’s just become intolerable.”

He said the traffic problem affects his city more directly than anywhere else in the county, with 80,000 vehicles passing through Main Street every day.

Both city and county agree they don’t want to permit development along the highway. And Johnston said the Heber City Council will back whatever option UDOT recommends.

“We aren’t going to try and play traffic and transportation engineers as a city council,” he said.

But Wasatch County manager Dustin Grabau said the county has more specific preferences about where the bypass should go.

“Wasatch County has been consistent in preferring the route that stays closer to Heber City,” he said.

UDOT is reviewing five routes for a U.S. Highway 40 bypass around Heber City. Two of those, pictured right and labeled WB-3 in orange and WB-4 in blue, have drawn the ire of residents who say they would damage one of the Heber Valley's cherished open-space areas.

He said if UDOT opts for a route that goes through the agricultural North Fields, the county council will want to discuss it further. Members of county government object to those fields being disrupted by the bypass.

“But ultimately, I think everyone’s in agreement that we do need a bypass and securing funding is going to be a priority,” Grabau added.

Meanwhile, Johnston said the bypass “can’t come soon enough” for Heberites.

“If you live in Midway or if you live in Wallsburg or Charleston… you may have different feelings, like, ‘Well, I’m going to weigh my love of the North Fields over my love of Heber City’s Main Street,’” he said. “I hope the county can see that Main Street’s success hinges on moving this road.”

He said the future of the whole Heber Valley depends on the success of Heber’s downtown economic development.

UDOT is expected to name one of five possible routes as its preference this spring.