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South Jordan intersection ‘dangerous,’ ‘horrible,’ residents say

Posted at 10:12 PM, Feb 26, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-27 14:29:53-05

SOUTH JORDAN, Utah - The Utah Department of Transportation is keeping a close eye on a problem intersection along Bangerter Highway after they said they've been seeing a number of crashes.

Now, residents in the area are saying they're starting to avoid the intersection of 114th South and Bangerter altogether because they said they see too much reckless driving and too many accidents.

Drivers and UDOT said the main problems center around people chancing yellow lights as they turn red, and turning left where it's not currently allowed.

"People will try to do U-turns around here also," said Fabio Vanuzzi, who lives near the intersection.

Local Jimmy Waters said he drives in the area every day, and after seeing enough "crazy" incidents, he's started to avoid the intersection.

"It's a horrible intersection. You see lots of wrecks there," he said.

Savannah Jenkins said it seems like some drivers just do "whatever they want."

"It's absolutely crazy," she said. "It's a really dangerous place. I'm terrified to drive there."

Case in point: On Sunday evening, South Jordan Police said a driver ran the red light while traveling westbound on 114th S, and smashed into a van traveling south on Bangerter.

Lt. Matt Pennington said they cited the driver for the red light violation.

In January, a child was thrown from a car when a woman who authorities said was turning left in a restricted area hit a police car.

UDOT said they took measures to prevent that kind of crash from happening again.

Still, they said it's a problem.

"This is a difficult intersection for us, one that we've seen a number of issues with," said UDOT information specialist Zach Whitney.

He said their traffic engineers are constantly monitoring this spot.

Not only have they installed more signage warning drivers not to turn left, Whitney said they've changed the timing of the lights.

"But people still continue to make those lefthand turns," he said. "The other thing that we're seeing is, people trying to push that yellow light as they go through the intersection."

While out there on Monday, Fox 13 witnessed more than one driver racing against the yellow light, crossing the intersection after it turned red. The vehicles barely made it through before southbound traffic started moving.

One driver was seen making an illegal lefthand turn from northbound Bangerter onto westbound 114th South. That driver became trapped in the middle of the construction zone, as they waited for cars to pass by.

While UDOT is making the adjustments that they can, Whitney said a lot of it comes down to drivers.

"We need people to pay more attention, we need people to slow down," he said.

Especially because there are still several months left of construction.

Whitney said the intersection is expected to be finished in the early fall. He said that the lefthand turn restrictions from 114th South onto Bangerter will be in place until the end of April.

He said the lefthand turn restriction from northbound Bangerter onto westbound 114th South will be in place until mid-summer.