UDOT regional project manager Craig Hancock told the Wasatch County Council Wednesday, Feb. 12, the agency is in the middle of refining its bypass route options.
“We are now into that level two screen, where we look at the impact side, some of the higher-level impacts,” he said. “These are the impacts that have regulatory protections around them, so that would be the wetlands, historic properties, recreational sites like public parks and archaeological sites.”
He said UDOT is also looking at impacts to property rights, and it’s estimating the cost to construct each option.
The next step is to consider utility impacts, access to local roads and other engineering specifics.
Hancock said he expects the research results to be published in late March.
“What it will show are the alternatives that we will be advancing into the draft EIS to go to further analysis,” he said. “Right now, we have a number of alternatives, and then once we get through the screening process, we expect that number to shrink down to just a few alternatives that we’ll study in depth.”
An EIS is an environmental impact study – the process UDOT uses to evaluate how each route option would affect the environment and the lives of people in the community, including construction noise, pollution and any effects on wildlife in the area.
Hancock said UDOT will do a “broad and deep” analysis of all the details for each route once the options are narrowed down.
“This is where we take the more broad look at all the impacts: land use, open space, farmland, water quality, wildlife resources, social and community resources and economics,” he said.
He said the goal is to finish that study by fall 2025, at which point UDOT will announce its preferred route.
He said UDOT will follow the announcement with community outreach so locals can learn details and ask questions.
The bypass has been discussed for decades as a way to help relieve traffic congestion in the Heber Valley.
