UDOT narrowly wins approval for barriers and traffic lights on North US 40

UDOT met with Heber City and Wasatch County councils in recent weeks to discuss its plans to reduce major crashes on U.S. 40 north of Heber.

Those plans include erecting concrete barriers to separate traffic and installing traffic lights at key intersections.

Eric Rasband, UDOT planning manager for Wasatch County, told local leaders that the changes would significantly improve safety on the stretch of U.S. 40 from 900 North to River Road.

In recent years, head-on accidents have resulted in eleven serious injuries, including one fatality. Rasband told Wasatch County officials that the barriers would all but prevent future head-on collisions.

“The public will benefit,” he said. “This is five or six years of data. If we put this into action and then we look five or six years out, we’re talking about potentially 11 people who would have a different quality of life than they have today – including one potential death that we could have eliminated.”

The proposed traffic lights would make left turns onto the highway safer in three locations: Potters Lane, the intersection at 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 council members unanimously supported UDOT’s proposal at a meeting last month.

But Wasatch County council members were less sure. The vote was narrowly 4-3 in favor of construction, with council members Erik Rowland, Steve Farrell and Karl McMillan opposed to the changes. Farrell said he was concerned about access to Potters Lane.

The danger on US 40 is so great that UDOT is eligible for federal funding to improve safety there. If the money is secured, UDOT plans to begin installing the barriers in spring 2025. The project will cost about $3.8 million, according to Wyatt Woolley, regional communications director.

Woolley said traffic lights will take longer to get approved and installed. For each of these modes of transport, the authority must prove that the installation of lighting is justified by the traffic volume. Installing a traffic light typically costs between $300,000 and $400,000.