The first section of the State Route 32 trail between Oakley and Francis began 15 years ago. Slowly, the trail is making its way south, and the section through Kamas’ downtown area is the focus this year.
Summit County Engineer Steve Dennis says the section of trail is located between 300 North and 530 South and will serve a variety of users with competing needs.
“Rather than generate 60 or 70% plans, and then take it to the public, we want to get input from all facets of the public now be at the business owners. There are lots of small businesses along Main Street there. We understand the school district is heavily involved with all the pedestrian access routes. Kamas City obviously probably has some input on what they want it to look like. And then the other service providers in the area, whether it's the rec district or the fire district, and the general public, we want to hear their input before we start putting lines on paper.”
County Engineer Mike Kendell says only 2.5 miles of what will eventually be a 5.5 mile trail has been completed. It’s an eight-foot-wide trail with two-foot shoulders on each side that is separated from the highway. In addition to extending the trail to Francis, they also hope to build a connector to the south side of the SR 248 park and ride lot.
Still to be worked out is how the trail will cross SR 32, which Kendell says will be done somewhere in Kamas.
“Right now, we're not contemplating any tunnels,” Kendell said. “There's nothing been decided, so it's open. But in preliminary discussions, we did walk with some represent is from Utah and Kansas City and most of the conversation circled around surface crossings at grade. But like I said, nothing's off the table at this point.”
With the recent passage of the long-range transportation plan, Dennis says he expects the project to move faster than it has.
“This is actually one of the projects on it,” Dennis explained.” “And as we go forward, we have seen continued and renewed support by the public. 15 years ago, we built a mile and a quarter approximately, and this year, we're building just over a mile. We understand we have some design challenges to work through, whether that's environmental impacts, or navigating through the Kamas Main Street area, but our sincere goal is to complete the trail in the next five years.”
The county has received $2.1 million in what are called TTIF or transit transportation investment funds for this section in Kamas. The county is matching that with another $1.4 million. Total project cost Kendell says is still to be determined.
The open house will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Kamas Library at 110 North Main St.
There will be a brief introduction and background to the project followed by some roundtable discussions.
