UDOT proposes building a free-flow corridor bypass through Heber Valley
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- Heber Valley is viewed from the Rock and Roll Train.
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- “Alternative A” of a new bypass corridor in Heber is shown.
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- “Alternative B” of a new bypass corridor in Heber is shown.
Building a free-flow corridor bypass through the Heber Valley was identified by the Utah Department of Transportation as the best way to address increased traffic in Wasatch County.
UDOT released two alternative transportation options in a Friday report, both of which suggested free-flow, interstate-like roads that would bypass Heber to the west and connect with Highway 40 to the north, shortening the travel time from Provo Canyon to Summit County.
The goal is to complete the project by the 2034 Olympics, according to UDOT Region 3 Senior Communications Manager Wyatt Woolley.
“This corridor bypass would be more equivalent to I-215 or Legacy Highway,” he said. “It would be a major route, with a couple lanes in each direction, that will allow traffic to really flow at almost highway speeds.”
Currently, the path from the top of Heber Valley through Heber Main Street down to the Y-Shape intersection where Highway 189 turns toward Deer Creek Reservoir takes approximately eight minutes to travel through, Woolley estimated. However, recent data suggests the same route could take as long as 20 minutes to get through in the future.
By 2050, UDOT forecasts traffic on north U.S. 40 to go up to 50,000 cars per day, comparable to the traffic on University Parkway. Data also projects a 30% increase in traffic on North U.S. 40 and 10% increase in traffic on Main Street.
Adding a free-flow road could reduce travel time down to six minutes, Woolley said.
UDOT nearly decided upon alternate plans to improve Heber Valley traffic flow in 2023, with solutions that involved non free-flow roads. But the new data, deriving from a Wasatch/Summit travel demand study, rendered the proposed alternatives outdated, and the alternate plans were not finalized.
“That’s why we had to go back to the drawing board and add more capacity to our alternatives,” Woolley said. “So we added free-flow options. So instead of signalized intersections, we went with free-flow options.”
The free-flow alternatives were chosen due to faster travel times, greater safety and an increased chance of bringing traffic off of Main Street. A free-flow road would also be more serviceable in the future, UDOT added.
UDOT’s “Alternative A” would be a freeway type road between SR-32 and US-189 and include interchanges at North U.S. 40, SR-32, Potter Lane/College Way, and Coyote Canyon Parkway, with directional ramps connecting to the western corridor at 900 North.
The road would also have a free-flow western corridor between 900 North and U.S. 189 and an east-west connection at 1300 South.
“Alternative B” resembles the first proposal until 900 North, including a new roadway between Potter Lane/College Way and 900 North, and signalized intersections at North U.S. 40, Potter Lane/College Way, Commons Boulevard, Coyote Canyon Parkway and 900 North.
Woolley said UDOT will determine between the A and B routes later this year, then present its plan in a public open house. If approved from there, the project enters the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.
“It basically goes to the Legislature, and they have to go to the Utah Transportation Commission, and then they have to say, ‘OK, how much money do you need?’ And then they’ll eventually award it to someone to do a design bid and probably a build,” Woolley said. “I don’t know exactly when that will happen. That probably be a few years out, but the goal is to have this built and ready by the Olympics.”
