ST. GEORGE — Construction by the Red Cliffs Mall during the holidays has last-minute shoppers frustrated with no holiday cheer.
Nick Yamashita, St. George News
The intersection of Gateway Drive and Red Cliffs Drive has construction, including city property and private property, within the northwestern parking lot of the Red Cliffs Mall.
Currently, the sidewalk on the southeast side is shut down and torn up, with part of the parking lot closed. Also, the vehicles traveling northeast on Red Cliffs Drive are being merged into one lane within the work zone.
They are adding a road entry and exit to the mall from the intersection, which will help with traffic flow as more cars will be able to use the new exit and entry at the lights. The city hopes it will relieve some traffic congestion which occurs there.
St. George Police Department Public Information Officer Tiffany Mitchell said the city had not kept her in the loop on the plans of the construction project at the underpass intersection. However, she was happy to report there have been no reports to her of car collisions within the area.
“Doesn’t mean there hasn’t been one,” Mitchell said. “If there has been an incident, it has not been serious enough to come to my attention.”
She explained that most of the congestion and frustrations are because more traffic is prevalent during the holidays and the last-minute Christmas shopping.
“It will get better when Christmas is over,” Mitchell said. “People just have to be patient.”
Cory Ashby, the General Manager of the Red Cliffs Mall, said the construction is for easier and safer access to the mall.
“The new entrance will provide a much safer ingress and egress to the property,” Ashby said. “It will also align with the new underpass on 1-15 that will connect our parking lot directly with Red Hills Parkway.”
Ashby said the project is expected to be done with the access open to traffic by Feb. 1, if not sooner. He mentioned more information pertaining to the project would be released to the public before it is completed. In the meantime, he had some words of advice for the public.
“Although doing construction during the holidays can sometimes be painful,” Ashby said. “We do ask that you be patient, as we will be much better off in the future once all is complete.”
No response was received from city representatives after St. George News made efforts to contact them.
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