UINTAH -- After a few months of negotiation, Uintah city is pleased with a revamped project the state has planned for improvements along U.S. Highway 89.
The Utah Department of Transportation recently announced it would begin work early next year on a project that would improve access and safety along U.S. 89 in Uintah.
The project includes a realignment of 6600 South to provide a new signalized access onto U.S. 89 and a realignment of the Interstate 84 westbound off-ramp, which includes removing its signal.
Originally, the project called for two U-turn lanes along the road and a center median barrier that would have extended from the I-84 interchange to just north of Combe Road.
The project's original design also left out the traffic signal at 6600 South.
UDOT first presented the project at a public meeting in Uintah in April.
Uintah residents worried that the center median would impede access to local roads and that the U-turn lanes would fill up quickly and often, leaving people who want to turn stranded in front of oncoming traffic.
Uintah Mayor Sue Bybee said the city and UDOT have spent long hours hammering out the details on a compromise to remove the median, remove the U-turn lanes and get a light placed at 6600 South.
"It will never come out to be a perfect fix that pleases everyone 100 percent," Bybee said. "But we've done a lot of work with UDOT to come as close as we can."
UDOT Region One spokesman Vic Saunders said the project's new design still accomplishes the goal of safety and improving access to properties adjacent to U.S. 89.
"The No. 1 goal is to reduce conflicts with left-hand turns, and we feel like this project will do that," he said. "Highway 89 has gotten so busy that we needed to make some changes in that area to make sure it's safe."
According to UDOT, the design for the project is now in final review, and construction is expected to begin in early 2012 and last several months.
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