UDOT came to American Fork on Thursday afternoon to put rumors to rest.

About 15 business owners met around a conference table at the Bank of American Fork to discuss how proposed changes to Interstate 15 and State Street will impact the historic business district on State Street, which is Main Street in American Fork.

"I know you are hearing all kinds of rumors and stories about what may or may not be happening," said Merrell Jolley, an engineer with UDOT.

The state has considered removing parking along each side of Main Street "for a few years" in order to widen State Street to better handle traffic during Interstate 15 reconstruction, he said.

"That is probably where that rumor came from," he said, noting the concept was only studied. "It is probably not going to happen, but I can understand how you could have some concern."

The American Fork Main Street interchange on I-15 will be reconstructed at some point, he said. UDOT is discussing two alternatives, a smaller interchange favored by the city because it would have less impact on businesses and take less space, and a larger one that Jolley said would move cars more efficiently and last longer before having to be replaced because of increased traffic. The larger version would impact more businesses but would also allow traffic to cross both the freeway and railroad tracks on one bridge.

The city is making plans to rejuvenate Main Street and business owners are concerned about how UDOT construction could affect those plans, said Linda Walton, manager of Main Street American Fork Inc., a business alliance.

"We are concerned about Main Street and parking and making it a bigger road, and how that would impact our development plans," she said.

There is no plan to widen Main Street, Jolley said, but the 500 East exit could be moved.

"There has been some suggestion that we eliminate 500 East and move it to 100 East and we are evaluating that," Jolley said.

American Fork officials have expressed concern about business access around the Main Street interchange, Jolley said, noting that UDOT is not in the design stage yet and those answers will come later.

Several business owners said they want UDOT to consider building a business access road along the new Main Street interchange, though Jolley said there is not space for such a road.

"We are not going to make everyone happy, but we can go a long way toward resolving a lot of the questions," Jolley said.

The reality is that traffic along Main Street "is not ever going to be better than it is today, ever," Jolley said.

"I feel much better," said Walton, after the meeting. "I feel like there are a lot of rumors floating around and we wanted to find out what reality is and now we know. We can move ahead."

The city is forming a committee of residents and business owners to study UDOT's proposals, said Walton and Debby Lauret, economic development director for American Fork.

"We want to be a player and we just want to have a seat at the table," Walton said.

Lauret, who is also executive director of the American Fork Chamber of Commerce, said JCPenney's department store and several "lifestyle restaurants" will be built in the Meadows commercial zone near Main Street in the next 18 months, and a development of 3,000 homes has started preliminary construction near 500 East.

All of those will significantly impact traffic on State Street/Main Street, she said.

Smaller businesses can be hurt by increased traffic or parking issues, she said. The city wants to work with UDOT to improve traffic flow but also wants to protect the city's historic business district.

"How to deal with traffic and parking is one of our main considerations," she said. "There are some good businesses downtown and we want to keep those and help grow some of the businesses that are smaller."

Caleb Warnock can be reached at 443-3263 or cwarnock@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.