TOOELE, Utah — In the area along State Route 36 and Skyline Drive, local businesses in Tooele expect changes if the Utah Department of Transportation moves ahead with a proposed new project.
Road safety and traffic have become a growing concern, as Tooele continues to grow. High traffic volume and speed are the issues most concerning at the intersection.
“Ever since they’ve developed more homes up on Skyline, the traffic is nonstop. There’s obviously a strange intersection here,” said Emily Wilson, who works nearby.
UDOT studied the area to increase traffic flow and safety, and the project proposes putting a traffic signal and a raised median at the location.
“Have a signal, it will raise awareness. This is a high-speed roadway, so anytime you’re causing people to slow down, it should create a little bit more safety,” explained UDOT product manager Dillon Richens.
Richens hopes to improve safety after multiple crashes at the location, including fatalities.
“The problem is you can’t teach people how to drive, but you can teach them convenience,” said Matt Harris, whose family has owned three lots at the intersection over the last four decades.
Harris is concerned about losing business and rerouting drivers.
“Now they’re going to push all commercial traffic through a residential area?” he asked.
Sunny Center Daycare is set to have its grand opening in just a few weeks, but the UDOT project would change its parking plans.
“With putting a traffic light right in front of our business, what that will do will eliminate our parking,” said Rays Gofer Foods owner Chris Erekson, who also owns multiple lots and leases them out.
Erekson believes that losing a piece of their lot to the project makes things less convenient for customers.
“It can kill our business," he said. "I mean, if people are struggling trying to get in and out of our parking to drop kids off, it’s going to kill us,”
But at the salon just across the way, Wilson hopes the plan could be a positive.
“Think it would be great. It would slow traffic coming down from the south and alleviate a lot of the accidents that do happen here,” she said.
Something everyone agreed on is that change is needed, although some are asking UDOT to consider alternatives to the proposed plan.
“We want whatever the correct solution here," said Richens. "We just want to make sure that we’re in increasing safety and increasing flow traffic.”
The public comment period for the project remains open until Friday.
