CEDAR CITY — The Cedar City Council is considering updates to its master transportation plan, paving the way for potential projects that officials say will help avert major traffic issues by the end of the decade.
One of the main topics discussed during the council’s work meeting on Wednesday was possible short- and long-term improvements that are likely to be needed along the South Cedar Interchange at Interstate 15’s Exit 57.
Thomas McMurtry, a planner with Avenue Consultants, warned of the possible traffic situation if there are no improvements made by 2030.
“We anticipate that all three of those intersections will be in complete failure, they will experience level of service ‘F’ and be in complete gridlock,” he said.
McMurtry presented the findings from the recently completed South Cedar Interchange Study, saying its purpose was to provide feasible transportation solutions for the interchange, noting that since the Diverging Diamond Interchange at Exit 57 was completed in 2014, traffic volumes between Royal Hunte Drive and I-15 have increased by 14%.
Overall traffic has increased by 40% since 2014, the document adds. Peak-hour traffic around the interchange is expected to increase by 50% by 2030. Additionally, Cedar City’s population is expected to grow by 40% over the next 30 years.
“This growth has resulted in a less efficient and reliable transportation system,” the study’s overview states.
McMurtry said that citizens could expect to see lines of cars on roads near the interchange.
“So, we’re looking at a half-mile in every direction or even a mile in some cases,” he said. “Not only will it be failing, it will take you multiple cycles to get through. It’s going to be as bad as it gets in just a few short years.”
According to Cedar City’s “Transportation and Active Transportation Plans,” the highest traffic volume recorded in the city is between South Cedar Interchange and the 200 North interchange at I-15’s Exit 59, where approximately 30,000 vehicles pass through each day.
Also of note, there were 195 vehicle collisions in the area immediately surrounding the South Cedar Interchange between 2015 and 2019. The largest concentration of serious crashes was reportedly at the intersection of I-15 and 200 North.
“The largest crash hotspot, outside of state routes and I-15, is the intersection of Royal Hunte Drive and Cross Hollow Road, where significant vehicle back-up is present,” the document states.
Council Member Tyler Melling suggested that congestion might be a good thing.
“If we allow a little more congestion and you allow a little more pain to get to and fro, maybe that creates demand to stick a Costco on the south new interchange or on the north interchange,” he said.
McMurtry noted that there is a push for these types of solutions on the Wasatch Front in northern Utah and that creating different centers can reduce the length and number of trips drivers take.
“It takes bigger geography with a lot more types of services and things, if that makes sense,” he noted. “And so, Cedar City is probably not there yet.”
In a proposal to prevent future gridlock, McMurtry presented a near-term plan to improve the intersections at Royal Hunte Drive and Old Highway 91. He said it would incorporate existing structures such as current bridge decks and would accommodate east-west traffic.
In addition, he suggested the city could build additional thru lanes and turn lanes, along with a new connection road across I-15 from Cross Hollow Road. Such a plan could cost $20 million but would help delay projected interchange failure until 2050, he said.
“The long-term solution is a full intersection rebuild,” McMurtry added. “You have to tear up the whole interchange and rebuild it.”
The project would widen the intersection to create a seven-lane road, he said. The long-term plan would incorporate improvements from the near-term solution and cost about $65 million.
“I think the proposal that’s out there, which is going to be the intermediate proposal, because they said it would only last 8 to 10 years, is not the best solution,” Council Member R. Scott Phillips later told Cedar City News. “I would rather have us work to try and get proper funding through the state Legislature and UDOT to do that interchange properly.”
He said that with the proposed long-term improvements, South Cedar Interchange should be able to handle all traffic for the foreseeable future.
“We’ll have traffic congestion; there will be problems,” he explained. “So I’d rather do it once than have to do a band-aid fix and then come back and do it again.”
Philips also pointed out that the Utah Department of Transportation will ultimately decide how the project will move forward.
“We can only give them guidance on what we’d prefer them to do. It’s a huge decision because they’re the ones that have to fund it,” he said.
Phillips noted that citizens may need to wait an additional 30 to 45 days before any concrete information on UDOT’s course of action is available.
While UDOT reportedly does recommend moving forward with both plans, McMurtry told the Cedar City Council that it did not previously have the South Cedar projects on its radar, so funds are not currently allocated. However, they are taking the necessary steps to move funding up.
Following the council meeting, McMurtry stressed that the project report is conceptual, based on an in-depth study of traffic flow to identify possible solutions for addressing the interchange’s deficiencies. Because the proposed plans are not yet in the engineering stage, UDOT still needs to complete multiple analyses of the area and go through the public process, he said.
The master transportation plan update is expected to be discussed at Wednesday’s action meeting.
To read more about the recommended updates for South Cedar Interchange, as proposed by the findings of Avenue Consultants’ comprehensive study, click here.
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