Safety concerns prompt Provo officials to close intersection ahead of 820 North bridge reconstruction
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- This May 2024 photo shows a decorative sunflower placed at the intersection of 800 North and 850 West where 21-year-old woman Isabelle Parr was hit and killed in 2022.
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- Barriers and cones redirect drivers near the intersection at 820 North and 850 West in Provo.
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- Barriers and cones redirect drivers near the intersection at 820 North and 850 West in Provo.
The convergence of 850 West and 820 North in Provo is the site of an aging bridge and a dangerous intersection, according to some residents who sounded off in the comments section of a post last month on the Provo City Government Facebook page.
Provo’s Public Works Department has permanently closed off the intersection due to safety concerns and resident feedback, the city said in its post. Officials believe the closure will alleviate drivers from turning too quickly onto or off of 850 West.
The sudden move comes after months of city and public meetings filled with discussions on how to address the restoration of the 64-year-old Provo River bridge. But citizens also have voiced concerns over pedestrian safety at the intersection.
The city’s outreach gained mounds of community feedback and, as a result, plans are underway to design and construct a new bridge at the intersection. Funding will come via a grant that Provo applied for through the Mountainland Association of Governments.
City officials anticipate the work to begin sometime next spring. But Public Works Director Gordon Haight said that after an evaluation of the intersection — related to sight distance for vehicles and pedestrians, proximity to the bridge, horizontal and vertical curve, accident history as well as other factors including residents who expressed an urgent push for the city to act swiftly on its safety measures — they made the call to close the intersection months earlier.
“As part of the public process, we held meetings with the neighborhoods, one of the comments that came from the residents was that the City should not wait to close the 850 West intersection with the construction of the bridge and that we should make the closure immediately,” Haight told the Daily Herald in an email. “The city evaluated all the public comments and did a safety study on the early closure of 850 West. The study found that an immediate closure would provide better safety to 820 North with minimal impact to the neighborhood traffic pattern.”
A decorative sunflower is displayed at the corner of 800 North and 850 West as a grim reminder of Dec. 1, 2022, the day tragedy struck when 21-year-old Isabelle Parr was hit and killed near the intersection while she was out jogging.
According to police, the driver hit her and took off. Nearly two years later, the case remains unsolved.
“Detectives have diligently followed up on all evidence and leads but as yet, have been unable to find any information that can lead us to a suspect,” said Janna-Lee Holland, public information officer for the Provo Police Department, in an email.
She encourages anyone who has information to contact detectives at 801-852-6210.
While the bridge’s aging infrastructure is the catalyst for its upcoming makeover, Haight said the death of Parr weighed heavily on the effort to look for ways to improve safety in the area and the ultimate decision to move up the road closure ahead of schedule. “The residents all expressed their concern for the young woman that was killed and her family. I believe that the hit and run was a major reason for their request for the road closure to happen ahead of the bridge construction,” he said.
Haight said the new traffic pattern may cause slight impacts to drivers who use the intersection frequently. But so far, he added, community response has largely been positive.
“The public seems completely supportive of this closure. We also considered emergency services to make sure that we met the City standard for emergency services access,” Haight noted.
Once the reconstruction is complete, the Provo River bridge at 820 North will accommodate more room for pedestrians and cyclists with widened sidewalks, smoother pathways and improved safety including sight distance for drivers, according to a webpage dedicated to the project.
For now, Jersey barriers are in place at the intersection. However, bicycles, pedestrians, e-bikes and e-scooters are allowed through the barriers. Motorcycles are not permitted.
