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Wasatch County
Heber, Midway and Wasatch County

Next Step For Heber Bypass Is Receiving $2.5 Million From State Legislature

Heber City is wrapping up their downtown survey, meanwhile the next step for the proposed bypass is acquiring millions of dollars from the Utah state legislature.

The Heber City Downton Planning Project survey was supposed to have data by early December, but Mayor Kelleen Potter explains why that’s been delayed.

“They had a QR code for the survey and we’re concerned there were people that weren’t able to access it. So, we’ve reopened it to the end of the month so we’re just going to bump the results back a little bit. Probably January we should have the recommendation from the planning study.”

The 14-question survey asks residents how they would like to see Heber’s Main street revitalized. The project is in connection to the proposed Heber bypass that would re-route U.S. 40 traffic west of town. Mayor Potter says the next step is securing $2.5 million from the Utah state legislature for an environmental study of the area.

“You have the planning study who says yes we’ve done all this research we think this is a good alignment. Then the environmental study comes and says well that’s okay or no that’s not okay. That’s impacting the wetlands or there’s some archeological find. That’s why it costs so much money and takes a couple of years. That’s the next step in the process we’re hoping we can do that as quickly as possible. Until that happens, we really can’t guarantee where it’s going to go.”

Since UDOT and the local government can’t confirm the route yet, that has also stopped the purchasing of property for right-of-way.

“Over the years the city and the county have been purchasing property or asking people to donate sections of property. Sometimes when they annex to Heber City there’s been opportunities to get some property donated. At this point we’re probably, I don’t know around 50% or so of that property. It’s being purchased through corridor preservation funds; $10 people pay when they do their car registration. We haven’t actively pursued any more because we’re in this process of determining where it’s going to go. There is this some concern that some of the property that’s been acquired might not be the route that’s approved in the environmental study. So, there are a lot of moving parts and we’re just trying to move forward the best we can.”

KPCW reporter David Boyle covers all things in the Heber Valley as well as sports and breaking news.
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