Heber City has received a positive recommendation from the Small Urban Committee to award $1.5 million to build a portion of the eastern bypass road. Thefinal approval would be in May. The New London and Red Ledges developments will fund two additional segments of the bypass project.
Heber City Engineer Bart Mumford said moving traffic off of Heber City's Main Street has been in the City's master plan for many years. He said the bypass road is a necessary means for lessening traffic congestion now and in the future as the developments in this area flesh out.
"That plan involves splitting the traffic that comes into Heber City down to Highway 40 down through Center St., which is in the historical path, and split it so that the traffic that's heading north towards Park City is going to go along a new route. We call it the eastern bypass, but it's a local load and splits that off and runs it along the northern route on the north side of Heber City."
The City applied for a $1.5 million federal grant under the small urban program through the Utah Department of Transportation. UDOT will make a final decision in May. If Heber gets the grant money, they'll need to use impact fees to help pay for this segment, which runs through the cemetery. He said it's probably about a $3 million project. Mumford said the New London and Red Ledges developers would finance and build the other two segments.
"What it will be is kind of a spur or a bypass that takes off of Center Street to the East of Heber City, which turns into Lake Creek. That goes through the Red Ledges development. Actually, they're primarily funding that road. And the western portion is another developer that we're working with. We call it the New London property. They'll take it from 5th East and connect it and tie it into Hwy 40."
Mumford said the eastern bypass road is key to dealing with traffic problems in Heber City. The New London Developers may start on the bypass road's western segment as soon as this year. If the Heber City grant is approved, he said the money wouldn't be available until 2022 or 2023.
"The other pieces of road are more development-driven, so the eastern portion and the western portion of this bypass road---and right now the key is this New London piece that ties into Hwy 40. And they want to try and get started later on this year or next year."
Now that the Small Urban Committee has made a positive recommendation in favor of Heber's road plan, it goes to the Joint Highway Committee in March. If they make a positive recommendation, the final funding approval will come in May from UDOT's Transportation Committee.
