Hyde
Park hears engineers' plans for alternative north-south
road
By Brad Plothow
January 27, 2006 | HYDE PARK -- A proposed road will
provide an alternative to Main Street for north-south
commuters in Cache Valley, but it won't connect all
the way to Smithfield for another 20 years or so, representatives
from JUB Engineering told the Hyde Park City Council
Wednesday.
"Unless you have a congressman who's a relative or
something, right now funding-wise it's out of the foreseeable
future," JUB representative Jeff Gilbert said of the
road, which the engineers proposed should run around
property lines and east of the Eccles Ice Arena in Hyde
Park.
Gilbert said federal or state money may be available
to build the road out to 2500 North in Hyde Park, but
that funding to extend the road any further probably
won't be available for at least 20 years, forcing it
to be constructed in piecemeal fashion.
"What likely is going to happen is as developers come
in, we'll work with them to develop the road," Mayor
David Kooyman said.
If completed, the road would run parallel to Main
Street, possibly from Hyrum to at least Hyde Park, alleviating
traffic along U.S. Highway 91. Environmental impact
studies have been underway along the proposed road corridor
since January 2004 and could continue for another year,
JUB representative John Powell said.
Councilman Charles Wheeler worried that JUB's preferred
plan -- four alternatives were presented Wednesday --
might put the road too close to a park expansion project
that includes construction of a baseball diamond.
"We want the road to be far enough west that we can
still do that," Wheeler said.
Kooyman said the plan can be shifted slightly, even
after the design is finalized, as long as it doesn't
alter the impact studies.
Once JUB finalizes a document detailing the road's
path through Hyde Park, the plan will be sent to a federal
highway agency where lawyers will have about a month
to look over it. There will probably be at least one
public hearing for Hyde Park and North Logan residents
before any construction begins.
Gilbert said the best way to get additional funding
for the project is to lobby Utah's state or federal
delegations for gap funding, since federal transportation
monies were appropriated last summer. Gilbert said JUB
would pitch the Cache Valley road as its primary project.
"This is the project we're going to hang our hat on,"
Gilbert said. "This will be the project we're going
to forward this coming year to see if we can get gap
funding."
Kooyman complimented JUB for including public input
in its road designs, and requested that whatever route
was ultimately used not cut through property lines in
Hyde Park.
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