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Cars travel westward along a stretch of Pioneer Crossing in American Fork on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

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A map outlining the study area in which UDOT is looking to install flex lane patterns along Pioneer Crossing is pictured during an open house public hearing Wednesday, April 9, 2025.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

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Community members view a map of proposed construction during an open house public hearing Wednesday, April 9, 2025, at Snow Springs Elementary School in Lehi. The Utah Department of Transportation is planning to install flex lanes along Pioneer Crossing to reduce east-west traffic congestion.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

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Pioneer Crossing was constructed between 2008 and the fall of 2010 with the goal of minimizing traffic congestion on both Interstate 15 and local arterial roadways, according to the Utah Department of Transportation.

Utah County has experienced substantial population growth since that time, leading to an increasing volume of traffic on the thoroughfare, which serves commuters traveling east to west between American Fork and Saratoga Springs

UDOT officials say the average daily traffic along the roadway has far exceeded its intended use.

“Currently, the road that we have at Pioneer Crossing was meant to have about 32,000 cars a day,” said Wyatt Woolley, UDOT Region 3 senior communications manager, at an open house format public hearing on the matter Wednesday evening at Snow Springs Elementary School in Lehi.

Right now, Pioneer Crossing sees a daily average of 52,000 to 58,000 vehicles.

In hopes of alleviating traffic headaches for drivers on Pioneer Crossing, UDOT is planning to redesign the road to create a flex-lane system.

As it stands now, Pioneer Crossing has a total of five lanes, with two lanes in each direction and a center turn lane.

The new configuration would add a lane in each direction between Mill Pond Road near the Lehi-American Fork border and Redwood Road in Saratoga Springs, plus a center turning lane, which will shift during peak times to provide four lanes for rush hour traffic and two lanes for other times.

Drivers will follow overhead signs indicating when to use the center turning lane, with green arrows signaling to proceed and a red X indicating to avoid it.

“And as need happens, like at five o’clock in the afternoon, when everyone wants to head west, there’s going to be a light on an arm, like a signal arm, that’s going to change from a red X to a green arrow that people will be able to drive on,” Woolley explained.

The design mimics a similar configuration along 5400 South in Taylorsville.

“This project specifically is to help increase capacity for all those east-west travelers on Pioneer Crossing so you get not just more green (light) time, but you’ll get an extra lane going in the (busiest) direction,” Woolley told the Daily Herald.

UDOT anticipates the first phase of construction to start in late summer or early fall.

Crews will remove the road’s median lane to add two lanes — eventually bringing the road up to seven lanes, including an adjustable turn lane.

The project will also include re-striping of Pioneer Crossing from Redwood Road to Mountain View Corridor to provide one additional travel lane in each direction throughout the day.

While the project aims to cut down on traffic bottlenecks, community members like Tami Gray expressed concerns.

Gray has lived near the intersection of Pioneer Crossing and 500 West in Lehi for nearly a decade and has witnessed the increase in traffic the road sees on a daily basis.

She’s also seen numerous crashes resulting in critical injuries along the thoroughfare. Gray fears with extra lanes on Pioneer Crossing, it may encourage drivers to disregard speed limits, thus making the issue even worse.

“With the cars being really close to our house, it just makes me a little bit nervous because people go really fast; it doesn’t matter what the speed limit is,” Gray said.

She’s hopeful that during periods of construction, drivers are vigilant of the posted speeds and that ultimately the new configuration will lead to less headaches for Pioneer Crossing commuters, despite the increasing number of drivers traveling to and from areas west of Utah Lake.

“There’s a lot of traffic, and at one point, Mill Pond Road, the left hand turn got shut down for a while, and that caused backups all the way to the freeway. So that’s what concerns me, is that people get frustrated, and then that causes more accidents and more road rage,” Gray noted.

Wednesday’s public hearing gave Gray and dozens of others a chance to learn more about the project and voice their concerns.

UDOT is in the midst of wrapping up an environmental study on the project.

Citizens are encouraged to continue weighing in on the Pioneer Crossing improvement efforts. The public comment period ends Tuesday.

The $77.3 million project is expected to take just over a year to complete. UDOT anticipates the Pioneer Crossing flex lanes to be operational by early 2027.

More information can be found online at udotinput.utah.gov/pioneercrossing.