Traffic is clogging Logan’s main drag, and with the population ballooning, the problem is only getting worse. To ease the congestion woes, state transportation officials have big ideas — some even outside their authority.
The Utah Department of Transportation’s plan for Main Street calls for adding new connections, extending streets, realigning intersections and creating bypasses to improve traffic flow. The department presented its proposed plan to a crowd of more than 200 at a community meeting in Logan on Tuesday.
“The problem with Main Street is Main Street,” said attendee Mary Jo Elmer. “Everything is in one straight line, so to go to any place, you have to go to Main Street. It's great if you don't need to go to Main Street, because you don’t have traffic anywhere else, but Main Street traffic is bad.”
UDOT spent the past 20 months studying transportation needs along U.S. Route 89, U.S. Route 91 and the surrounding areas, said UDOT spokesperson Mitch Shaw. The main reason for the study, he said, was to understand what the department needs to do in the future to accommodate the area’s continuing growth.
“Congestion on Main Street, that’s a huge part of this picture,” Shaw said. “People that live here have been telling us that, and you can see that by looking at traffic counts. We have traffic cameras that show us that every day.”
UDOT used data from its study and previous research to identify seven key projects, both on and off Main Street. These include new road connections meant to encourage drivers to take side streets, as well as realigning intersections such as 600 North at Main Street. Additional plans involve expanding key roads, creating continuous north-south routes and upgrading Main Street’s infrastructure.
Some proposals include roads maintained by Logan and the county. None of the projects is finalized, Shaw said, adding that Tuesday’s event was meant to gather community feedback. He was surprised by the large turnout, as these events typically don’t attract such a crowd.
“People obviously care about it,” Shaw said. “We’re not going to be able to make everyone happy on every single thing that we do, but we want to hear what people have to say so we can come up with the best solution.”
Some residents attended the meeting to voice concerns over the plan, especially the proposal to build a new segment of 600 East from Center Street to 200 North, which could potentially displace multiple homes in Logan’s Island neighborhood.
One resident who would be directly impacted by the project, Rochelle Tallmadge, said it would bring a major road right to her front door. She explained that many of her neighbors live in generational homes they want to preserve, in an area that has been taking a “beating” lately.
“Beauty and charm ought to be appreciated,” Tallmadge said. “I feel like my neighbors are the kinds of people that will be bulldozed over because they don’t have power and they don’t have influence, and that is wrong.”
Logan resident Andrea Dawson said she’s never considered traffic a problem in the area, having lived in places with much worse congestion. While she said she feels for those affected by traffic, she believes there are other solutions that don’t affect residential properties. Tuesday’s proposal left her wondering, “Who’s next?”
“The idea of creating a way for vehicles to travel through people’s homes is ludicrous and thoughtless and inconsiderate,” Dawson said. “Progress at people’s expense was not the way I ever imagined Logan would go.”
Other residents, like Linda Young, are excited about certain proposals and UDOT’s efforts to tackle the issue. Young, who often uses 200 East to avoid Main Street traffic, believes more connections to this road would be beneficial, especially the proposed link from 100 East to 200 East, which would shorten her drive to the movie theater in Providence from North Logan.
“This looks much more like we’re getting serious,” Young said, “and serious is what we need in the valley.”
