Plans for a bypass road to circumvent Heber City’s Main Street have been in the works for decades. Now, with the Olympics potentially returning to Utah in 2034, leaders are seeking an expedited timeline for that road.
Wasatch County manager Dustin Grabau said he’s been involved in local planning efforts around the future Olympics.
“Largely we have discussed the need for identifying projects that the community views as important that might also have a connection with the Olympics,” he said. “We hope that the bypass could be in place by then, because I think transportation from Utah County and through Wasatch County is going to be an important aspect of it.”
He said the Deer Valley expansion could be a key location for a future Olympics and facilitating access would be critical.
The future boundaries of what land Heber City could annex are also under consideration in the bypass discussion.
“The anticipation has always been that the bypass would represent kind of the northwest boundary of Heber City,” Grabau said.
Now, with proposed routes on the table, Heber’s leaders are expected to discuss the city’s boundaries at a meeting Saturday. Grabau said Heber City does not anticipate annexing all the North Fields even if the bypass cuts through that land.
At this point, the Utah Department of Transportation has identified five possible bypass routes to pull traffic away from downtown Heber. Three possibilities begin just south of Heber City and reconnect to U.S. 40 north of downtown. Two others would connect much farther north, passing through the agricultural North Fields.
UDOT is expected to announce its preferred route by March.
