Construction continues along Mountain View Corridor
Mar 08, 2018 02:55PM ● By Mariden WilliamsMountain View Corridor December 2017 project update map. (Utah Department of Transportation)
The Utah Department of Transportation’s current plans for the Mountain View Corridor feature more connections and interchanges at key roads and destinations, and the incorporation of more public transit.
“The way that this kind of works; we’re calling it a balanced transportation plan,” UDOT project director Joe Kammerer said to the Riverton City Council. “We build roadway and trail, and then we build a transit component, so there’s three phases of each of those.”
Phase one of transit in Salt Lake County, according to Kammerer, will be an express bus system. It will run along 5600 West, connect to Daybreak Parkway and Salt Lake International Airport, and will continue into downtown Salt Lake.
“Once this is in place, we will build those interchanges north of Old Bingham Highway up to Interstate 80,” said Kammerer. “So you can see that the transit component is a very critical part of developing the roadway as well. Originally UDOT was planning to have a rail system, but now we’ve changed it.”
For Mountain View Corridor, the public transit component south of Old Bingham Highway is already complete. “In order for us to go to Phase Two of the roadway, the only remaining component is to connect Mountain View Corridor from 2100 North [in Lehi] to Porter Rockwell Boulevard. Once we do that, we will, provided we have funding, start building interchanges along Mountain View Corridor to the north. So, 12600 South, 13400 (South), and so on.”
“Really what this means for Riverton, is hopefully an alleviation of some of the congestion that travels east–west, especially with the [Highway] 201 connection being made,” said Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs. “The thought is that the traffic will just go down Mountain View Corridor, and then connect to 2100 expressway to get onto I-15, if they need to.”
“At 5600 West, south of 201, so south of 2100 south, we’re expecting those travel volumes to go back to [what they were in the] early 1980s, once we build the interchange at Mountain View and 201,” said Kammerer.
The most recently completed segment of the Mountain View Corridor, finished just a couple of months ago, connects I-15 to Redwood Road, and then picks up from Porter Rockwell Boulevard and extends all the way to 4100 South.
Another segment, which will connect State Route 73 to 2100 North in Lehi, is funded and due to be constructed this summer. “It will be similar configuration to what is out there now—two lanes in each direction, a 12-foot-wide bicycle/pedestrian trail and a center median,” said Kammerer.
Another planned and funded piece, from 4100 South up to State Route 201, will be extended a little farther, out to California Avenue.
“We expect that construction to begin about one year from now, and will last a couple of years,” Kammerer said. Another segment, which will connect the roadway from 2100 North to Porter Rockwell, still needs to be funded. “When that piece is connected, that will complete phase one of Mountain View Corridor, with the exception of the piece from California Avenue to I-80.”