During the Springville City Council’s work session on Tuesday, the body heard a proposal from the public works department to install new roads and roundabouts in the city. 

Public Works Director Bradley Stapley presented several recommended improvements to the city including two major new roads, three roundabouts, and an added traffic signal.

Under the proposal, Springville would add a road running north to south, connecting 1400 North and 2600 West. This road will provide access to Lakeside Landing, a new development west of the 400 South freeway interchange according to the presentation.

A road would also be added to extend 1200 West, running north to south and connecting 1400 North with 1600 South. When the new Springville High School is built, a host of additions may be installed. A traffic signal could be added to the intersection of 400 South and 1100 East along with a roundabout placed off of 1350 East.

A roundabout would be put in place at 620 South and Canyon Road, and the current four-way stop at the intersection of 800 South and 800 East would be replaced with a five-way roundabout, in hopes of making the surrounding neighborhoods a safer place to walk and drive.

The roads in these four-way intersections are typically 66 feet long, meaning a pedestrian attempting to cross the street to reach the school would have to cross that entire distance while watching for cars from four directions. 

Replacing the four-way intersection with a roundabout would mean that a pedestrian would only have to cross about 12 feet of pavement to reach the roundabout’s center island, where they can stop in a safe place to wait for traffic to clear, and then cross the remaining 12 feet to the other side of the street.

According to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, intersections converted to roundabouts saw a 70-80% reduction in injury crashes.

“Psychologically, you slow down when you come to a roundabout,” said Brian Henrie, a landscape architect and roadway safety advocate. 

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