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South Valley Riverton Journal

The progress on the widening project of Redwood Road

Oct 28, 2016 01:39PM ● By Tiffany Webb

Looking northwest on Redwood Road. There is a lot of congestion seen in this area during specific times of day. (Tiffany Webb/City Journals)

By Tiffany Webb | [email protected] 



Riverton, Utah - Trace Robinson, Riverton Public Works director and city engineer, reported on the progress of the Redwood Road widening project at the Riverton City Council meeting on Oct. 4.

The plans are to widen the road into a seven-lane, full concrete street. In mid-September the project manager contacted Robinson with a concern. He said they are running into funding issues. The right of way, for example, cost more money than originally anticipated. 

The Utah Department of Transportation is looking for areas where they might be able to save money on this project. Robinson wanted to make it clear that these ideas are not yet solidified, . 

UDOT proposed to save money by potentially taking the original 10-foot shoulders and making them 8-foot shoulders instead. Having water lines, including secondary water, set up on both sides of the street eliminates the need to construct water lines that go back and forth underneath the street. If this were done, there would be no need to relocate the water lines.

UDOT officials also thought of looking at adjusting the park strips. Riverton City leaders would like to have xeriscape or stamped concrete park strips for these areas, but UDOT has proposed going with sod. 

“The issue in going with sod is who is going to maintain this?” Robinson said. “Especially on the east side where they are taking down most of the properties. UDOT would be looking to the city to maintain these park strips.”

 The most controversial news to the council in Robinson’s progress report is no longer aligning some neighborhood streets to streets that will be located on the other side of Redwood Road. The streets Christian Way, Western Charm Drive and Riverton Ranch Road, currently sit in a T-type intersection, and the plan originally proposed on the widening project was to have these streets become four-way intersections. UDOT’s reasoning behind this idea is to eliminate having to put traffic lights in immediately. Officials would still plan on putting in the underground conduits and pole boxes for these traffic lights to be installed later on. 

“They are pretty adamant about this is where they can save some money,” Robinson said regarding to the intersections. 

After Robinson’s progress report, he invited the council to make comments or ask questions. Mayor Bill Applegarth was the first to speak to Robinson’s report.

“This is a concern, a major concern,” Applegarth said. “I would say this about the project manager though: he has really gone to bat for us. She is trying to get the whole project to the original design.” Councilman Brent Johnson spoke next about his concerns with this progress report.

“This thing isn’t even close to what was proposed in the open houses,” he said. “We need to come up with an absolute plan and stand solid as a city.”

Robinson spoke about the bidding estimates and how they usually come in higher then they tend to spend in the end. The UDOT project manager wanted the council to know that nothing is final right now. They are only putting together multiple ideas for saving money. 

“Certainly we don’t roll over and play dead, but let’s play nice.” Applegarth said.