UDOT met with the Heber City and Wasatch County councils in recent weeks to discuss its plans to reduce serious crashes on U.S. 40 north of Heber.
Those plans include adding concrete barriers to separate traffic and installing stoplights at key intersections.
Eric Rasband, UDOT’s planning manager for Wasatch County, told local leaders the changes would dramatically improve safety on the stretch of U.S. 40 from 900 North to River Road.
Head-on crashes led to 11 serious injuries, including one fatality, over the past few years. Rasband told Wasatch County leaders the barriers would all but eliminate future head-on collisions.
“The public will receive a benefit,” he said. “These are five- or six-years' worth of data. If we got this in place, and then we saw five or six years, we’re talking 11 people, potentially, that would have a different quality of life than they have today – including potentially one fatality we could have eliminated.”
The proposed traffic lights would make left turns onto the highway safer at three spots: Potters Lane, the intersection by Utah Valley University’s Wasatch County campus; Commons Boulevard, the entrance to the Wasatch Commons neighborhood; and Coyote Canyon Parkway, a road into the Jordanelle Ridge development.
Heber City councilmembers unanimously supported UDOT’s proposal at a meeting last month.
But Wasatch County councilmembers were less certain. The vote was a narrow 4-3 in favor of the construction, with councilmembers Erik Rowland, Steve Farrell and Karl McMillan against the changes. Farrell said he was concerned about access to Potters Lane.
The danger on U.S. 40 is significant enough that UDOT qualifies for federal funding to improve safety there. If it secures the money, UDOT plans to begin installing the barriers in spring 2025. The project will cost roughly $3.8 million, according to regional communications director Wyatt Woolley.
Stoplights will take longer to approve and install, according to Woolley. For each one, the agency needs to show that installing a light is warranted based on traffic patterns. Adding a stoplight typically costs between $300,000 and $400,000.
