It’s official: an underpass is out of the running in the race to fix Kimball Junction’s traffic problem.
An underpass was the Utah Department of Transportation’s “alternative B.” Losing it is a disappointment to county transportation officials like Carl Miller, who tried to resuscitate the idea with a modified “alternative B+.”
“We were hoping with the flyunder—alternative B–we would have capped parking or a park on top of [state Route] 224 as a plaza to really bridge the two neighborhoods together,” county transportation planner Carl Miller said. “Unfortunately, with that being screened out by UDOT, that's not really a possibility anymore.”
Both B and B+ would have required relocating businesses and been more environmentally invasive, two reasons UDOT eliminated both options.
The remaining alternatives are A and C. A would add an extra interstate exit for Landmark Drive, but the Summit County Council favors C.
“All the turns become two lanes,” Councilmember Canice Harte explained on “Local News Hour.” “And then it expands the lanes in and around the highway interchange. So basically, what it's doing is just making the turn movements faster and more efficient, which allows the traffic to flow through faster."
Option A wasn’t the council’s favorite because it could put more vehicles onto Landmark Drive into the path of pedestrians.
And councilmembers still like the idea of a grade-separated crossing. So they’re adding a pedestrian bridge or other east-west connection to the public-private partnership discussion with Dakota Pacific Real Estate.
Harte said a pedestrian bridge across the highway could create “brand power” as a gateway to the area.
UDOT isn’t proposing such a bridge because it takes longer to move people than a new tunnel would. But to the county, creating a space to sit and stay a while is the whole point.
Miller and county engineer Brandon Brady showed councilmembers examples of similar gathering spaces from Austin, Texas to as far away as Turkey Aug. 28.
“This is simply changing the railing and beautifying that,” Miller said, pointing to another footbridge from Coimbra, Portugal. “It adds a whole different element to it, where people want to be there rather than get through it as fast as possible.”
It’s up to UDOT which alternative, A or C, is implemented. It could choose one later this year or in early 2025.
Summit County would be on the hook for so-called “betterments,” including pedestrian footbridges and the like. But it has a potential development partner in Dakota Pacific.
County officials have been discussing partnering with the Salt Lake City-based developer on redesigning the adjacent Kimball Junction Transit Center.
