1 / 5

The crossing arms are raised and lowered to signal the official opening of the Spanish Fork Parkway-Union Pacific railroad crossing in Spanish Fork on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023, at the road's grand opening. Hundreds of residents of Spanish Fork and surrounding communities attended to see the new road connecting to the hospital and many other businesses.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

2 / 5

A little girl dresses up as a railroad crossing sign for the costume contest held at the grand opening of the Spanish Fork Parkway-Union Pacific railroad crossing in Spanish Fork on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

3 / 5

The grand opening of the Spanish Fork Parkway-Union Pacific railroad crossing in Spanish Fork was held Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023. Hundreds of residents of Spanish Fork and surrounding communities attended to see the new road connecting to the hospital and many other businesses.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

4 / 5

A costume contest was held for children at the grand opening of the Spanish Fork Parkway-Union Pacific railroad crossing in Spanish Fork on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

5 / 5

Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson speaks during the grand opening of the Spanish Fork Parkway-Union Pacific railroad crossing in Spanish Fork on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023. Hundreds of residents of Spanish Fork and surrounding communities attended to see the new road connecting to the hospital and many other businesses.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

❮ ❯

Spanish Fork Parkway is now officially connected to North Spanish Fork Parkway, with the road crossing over the train tracks to create the Spanish Fork Parkway-Union Pacific railroad crossing.

The new road gives residents southwest of South State Street quicker access to amenities on the other side of State Street, including the Canyon Creek Commercial Center and the Spanish Fork Hospital that opened in 2021. It also connects Mapleton and part of Springville more efficiently to the rest of Spanish Fork and to Interstate 15.

Before this intersection was added, residents would take U.S. Highway 6, which often has high traffic, especially on the weekends, according to Chris Thompson, public work director for Spanish Fork. For many, the commute time to work or simply to get groceries will decrease significantly.

“We are really excited to finally have this commute because it would take us five to seven minutes just to get to Walmart where I swear it’s gonna take us like two or three,” said Lori Ainsworth, the mother of a family that lives in the neighborhood next to the railroad crossing. She said especially with five kids, late night runs to get necessities will be much easier now.

While acknowledging the convenience of the new crossing, Ainsworth expressed her concern about the noise of trains, which will now be blowing horns as they pass their home. She is also worried about the traffic and fast cars that will now fill their once quiet, secluded street. “I know a lot of people were waiting for this road, but there was just, like, this safe haven of a community over here,” she said.

The plan for this intersection and railroad crossing has been in the works for over 10 years, and in the past two and a half years started to become a reality. The grand opening of the road was held on Tuesday and the ribbon-cutting was done railroad crossing style. The crowd of hundreds of residents from Spanish Fork and nearby cities counted down from 10, waiting for the railroad crossing arms to raise and lower again to signal the official opening of the Spanish Fork Parkway-Union Pacific railroad crossing.

Businesses from across South State Street had tables set up with food and snacks for those attending. The grand opening offered this opportunity to businesses as a way to introduce themselves to the neighborhood they are now connected to. There was also a costume contest for children, many of whom dressed up as conductors, trains, railroads and railroad crossings.

Before this intersection was added, it took almost 12 minutes to get out of the neighborhood to get to the road that led to the hospital, Spanish Fork Mayor Mike Mendenhall explained. Now it takes those same people less than a minute to get to the hospital. “It’s not only for the residents that live here. But thinking about our first responders, they can get up here a lot quicker and get to help a lot faster as well,” he said.

In order to open this crossing, they had to close three other crossings in Spanish Fork. This new crossing has arms and flashing lights when a train is crossing, but the others did not have as many safety functions and saw several bad accidents, Thompson explained. So creating this new crossing also funnels people onto the new road to cross at a safer place.

Under the Mountainland Association of Governments, Spanish Fork worked with all of the other cities in Utah County on the decision to create the crossing and to fund it. The entire project cost $4 million, $3 million of which came from a grant through MAG. “The taxpayers of Spanish Fork, the taxpayers of all of Utah County helped contribute to this,” Mendenhall said. Collectively, he explained, the mayors across Utah County decided this project was of importance to the entire county because it will impact more than just Spanish Fork.

Mapleton Mayor Dallas Hakes said at the grand opening, “This is going to be a great thoroughfare for our residents in Mapleton to be able travel down into Spanish Fork.”

Mendenhall told the Daily Herald that Spanish Fork is “the home of pride and progress,” and this crossing is part of helping residents take pride in their community. What used to be fields of grain and alfalfa have been replaced with homes, and while people loved looking at those fields, Mendenhall said, “People live in those homes and people travel in these vehicles, and so the human aspect of something like this far outweighs whatever you would call an inconvenience at the time. It’s Pollyannaish a little bit, but Spanish Fork people understand that more than just living in a city you’re part of a city, you’re part of a community. So that’s what this kind of represents.”

Dan Ainsworth, Lori Ainsworth’s husband, said he is “hesitantly positive” about the new crossing. Lori said she is “hesitantly negative” about the new crossing. She explained she will have to wait and see how busy the road will be before deciding how she feels about the crossing. She is the most concerned about the lack of stop signs or stop lights except for the crossing on the stretch of road.

Resident Dan Winsworth added that, overall, there are pros and cons, “but I think the pros outweigh the cons.”

“This being completed for us today, for you today, is a huge step in the progress of Spanish Fork,” Mendenhall said at the grand opening. “I appreciate the lieutenant governor’s words in making sure that you don’t forget the pride — the pride that whether you’ve been here 20 days and you’re a new home that just moved in up here or you’ve been here 20 years on the east side of Spanish Fork, this is a big deal. This road serves at least a third of our residents, (and) like Mayor Hakes touched on, at least all of Mapleton.”

Newsletter