Savannah Hansen with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) visited the Helper City Council meeting to discuss possible support on the safety project for US-6/US-89.
Hansen explained that UDOT has been going to many different councils to try and get support on this project, which would target a turn off of a small road in Thistle. There are a lot of high speeds and a lot of tragedies and the hope is to re-grid the road and put a tunnel underneath to drive under the highway.
They are attempting to capture federal funding for this and simply need a signature from the council or Helper City Mayor Lenise Peterman, though Hansen did say that submitted comments on the project would also be accepted.
Key improvements for this project include reconstructing turning movements with substantially longer acceleration and deceleration lanes, which would provide positive separation from other traffic flows. The project will additionally include a grade-separated tunnel, which was aforementioned, for US-89 traffic, ensuring uninterrupted travel and enhanced safety.
Along with the request for council support, Hansen had provided a US-6 Safety Project Funding Petition for those in attendance to sign if they chose to. The petition stated that those signing wished to express support for the project.
“Since 2010, there have been a total of 57 crashes within a quarter a mile of this intersection, including two fatalities,” the petition stated. “Both fatalities occurred when a northbound vehicle on US-89 unsuccessfully attempted to cross the eastbound lanes of US-6 to make a left turn onto westbound US-6.”
This project is said to meet needed criteria. With all of this information in mind, the council agreed to have Mayor Peterman sign a letter of support.
