County manager Dustin Grabau said U.S. 40 north of Heber is an especially dangerous section of the highway.
“Pretty much every summer, we have very serious accidents, often fatalities, on this stretch of north Highway 40,” he said. “I think it’s been a priority for UDOT for some time.”
According to data from the Utah Department of Public Safety, there have been dozens of collisions on U.S. 40 so far in 2024. Three of those were fatal crashes.
The Wasatch County Council will discuss ways to improve road safety at its meeting Wednesday. Councilmembers will share their feedback with the Utah Department of Transportation.
Grabau said medians are one likely solution. He said adding a center divider will help reduce the number of risky left turns onto the highway.
“When the road is very busy, it can be tempting to try and take a left turn, but it maybe isn’t the safest alternative,” he said. “What this would do is force people to [make] right turns and then take U-turns, which is admittedly inconvenient, but it’s just the policy question of how do you weigh convenience against those health and safety concerns.”
He said tentative plans would have gaps in the median for possible future intersections, such as at the entrance to Utah Valley University’s Wasatch campus.
The medians would run along U.S. 40 from River Road to 900 North.
Wednesday’s
begins at 4 p.m.
Councilmembers will also discuss priorities for the new transit tax, including funding paratransit for Wasatch County riders.
