‘We call it progress’: Public gets look at proposed designs for 700 South interchange

ST. GEORGE — Last May, homeowner Ursula Davies said she was worried about losing her home to a new freeway interchange state road planners proposed for Interstate 15 at 700 South in downtown St. George.

Residents and property owners in downtown St. George living near the 700 Sound underpass gather at a UDOT-hosted open house to learn more about proposed designs for an interchange state road planners want to build on I-15 at 700 South as a way to alleviate current and future congestion at Exits 6 and 8 (Bluff Street and St. George Boulevard), St. George, Utah, Nov. 16, 2022 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

Now six months later, she’s come to terms with the possibility her home on 700 South could be impacted in part or completely by a new interchange.

“I don’t want to start over,” Davies, who is in her mid-70s, told St. George News during an open house hosted in early May by the Utah Department of Transportation. Her home is located a block west of the 700 South underpass at the corner of 700 East.

At the time, UDOT officials explained that an interchange built at 700 South would help ease current and future traffic congestion at the St. George Boulevard/Exit 8 and Bluff Street/Exit 6 interchanges on I-15. Congestion at these interchanges is projected to rise by 17-20% by 2050 if nothing is done to address the issue beforehand, according to UDOT data.

Future traffic at Exits 6 and 8 also could end up backing up onto the freeway up to 3,000-4,000 feet if nothing is done to ease the problem.

The May open house – which is a part of an overall environmental assessment being conducted on the viability and impacts of an interchange on 700 South – produced a quality and quantity of public input that impressed UDOT officials. In response to the public comments, UDOT held a second open house Tuesday that showed residents four alternative designs from which a preferred alternative may be chosen.

The open house was held at Utah Tech University’s Atwood Innovation Plaza and included a short, sit-down presentation in addition to the open house format during the original meeting.

I think we call it progress’

St. George resident Ursula Davies shares her thoughts on recent developments involving 700 South interchange project, St. George, Utah, Nov. 16, 2022 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

It was during the second open house that St. George News caught up with Davies. Her attitude toward the project had changed.

“Last time I got the feeling no one knew anything,” Davies said. “This time I get the distinct feeling they have studied it, they have looked at it and they have options. They are showing us those options and I think that’s a good thing.”

Of the four proposals shared with the public Tuesday, Davies believes two of them will result in her home being taken if one or the other is selected.

“It is what it is,” she said, adding she had been contacted by UDOT about the possible impacts to her property. “I sat down and reevaluated it and realized that, eventually, I’m going to be out of that house anyway.”

As she gets older, Davies said she sees moving to an assisted living facility in her future and won’t have to worry about what the potential fate of her 700 South property then.

“I think we need to understand that our personal preferences do not dictate the needs of the area,” she said. “A plan is not good because we like it or bad because we don’t like it. I think we need to keep an open mind. There are some realistic concerns about traffic. Certainly, I see plenty of it now on that corner where I live. I think we call it progress.”

Residents and property owners in downtown St. George living near the 700 Sound underpass gather at a UDOT-hosted open house to learn more about proposed designs for an interchange state road planners want to build on I-15 at 700 South as a way to alleviate current and future congestion at Exits 6 and 8 (Bluff Street and St. George Boulevard), St. George, Utah, Nov. 16, 2022 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

While others who attended the second open house appeared to accept that an interchange may be built at 700 South, others remained vehemently opposed to the project.

Lingering concerns and a new comment period

Concerns shared with UDOT officials during its May open house persisted and included fears about losing the sense of community in the area, general safety for children and teens who attend nearby schools, decreased property values, worries of increased crime and increased noise pollution from increased traffic.

“You’re dissecting the community,” one man at a crowded table displaying one of the alternatives told the attending UDOT staff member.

Another man said UDOT hadn’t taken the safety of children walking to school and from school into consideration. The new designs would put those children at risk due to having to cross much busier intersections, he said.

Keeping and adding local access to the east and west sides of the city – bisected by I-15 as it is – was also a major concern to which road planners paid particular attention.

Ryan Anderson, pre-construction engineer for UDOT’s Region 4, said the concerns, comments and recommendations of area residents were taken into consideration. These led to UDOT planners considering new designs consistent with public feedback.

“Based on some of the comments that we heard (in May), and some viable alternatives that we felt like needed further analysis,” he said, “we chose to come back to the public with these alternatives so that they can see for themselves that we had looked at those alternatives and considered them and what resulted from that.”

Residents and property owners in downtown St. George living near the 700 Sound underpass gather at a UDOT-hosted open house to learn more about proposed designs for an interchange state road planners want to build on I-15 at 700 South as a way to alleviate current and future congestion at Exits 6 and 8 (Bluff Street and St. George Boulevard), St. George, Utah, Nov. 16, 2022 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

UDOT received nearly 250 comments from the original open house with the majority of them well thought out and substantive, Anderson said. It is because of the quality of those comments that UDOT officials decided to hold a second meeting to show the four alternatives to the public. This is something UDOT rarely does, he said.

Instead, UDOT typically has the alternatives listed with a preferred alternative already chosen in a draft environmental assessment. This would be released to the public for review and comment before final adoption.

In the case of 700 South, UDOT is adding an extra step by allowing the public to consider the alternatives before a preferred one is chosen. Doing so has bumped the release of a draft environmental assessment toward the spring of 2023 instead of the end of the year as originally planned.

“We felt like it was the right thing, because we did feel like we could receive some good input from the public,” Anderson said.

Three projects in one

The 700 South project is one of three projects involving I-15 through St. George, Anderson said.

Widening the roadway

The first project, which has been funded, is the widening of I-15 between Exits 6 and 8. This project is slated to occur in 2024 and will add a third travel lane to north and southbound I-15.

While this project is underway, UDOT officials said they want to capitalize on the opportunity to build the 700 South interchange at the same time, along with another potential project that could add new underpasses connecting east and west St. George.

The four alternatives proposed for the 700 South interchange project | Slide courtesy of the Utah Department of Transportation, St. George News

700 South study and alternatives

UDOT planners started with 17 proposed designs for the 700 South interchange, five of which came from the public. Following a screening process, the four alternatives that survived were the ones presented to the public Tuesday. These four were crafted by UDOT while the five created from public recommendations failed to make the cut.

While the five public alternatives could benefit local traffic in some way, they did not improve traffic issues at the St. George Boulevard or Bluff Street interchanges, and therefore were eliminated from consideration.

Each of the four alternatives proposed by UDOT would result in 700 South being widened through 700 East and past 900 East while also creating a new lighted intersection at 800 East.

Two of the plans also have on- and off-ramps connecting to the north side of 800 East, resulting in that street ending in a possible cul-de-sac. Impacts to the immediate area could include the removal of some apartments and off-campus student housing.

Improved active transportation connectivity is also incorporated into each alternative.

UDOT’s preferred alternative will not be known until the environmental assessment is released next spring.

A fifth alternative, that of not building a new interchange at all, might be considered.

Individual slide of the proposed alternatives, courtesy of UDOT:

Local connectivity

UDOT is looking at creating underpasses at 900 South and 400 East in order to improve local connectivity for St. George residents. This will involve raising I-15 around 16 feet and is an endeavor the state road agency currently has no funding for.

Recently the federal government rolled out a grant program for projects promoting better-connected communities that UDOT and the city of St. George have partnered on to apply for, Anderson said.

If a grant for the project is awarded, work on the new underpass would occur the same time the freeway is being widened and the new interchange is being built.

How to comment

The public comment period for the proposed alternatives runs through Saturday, Dec. 10.

Comments can be submitted through email at [email protected], or through the project’s website.

Comments can also be sent through the mail to:

I-15 St. George Study (c/o Avenue Consultants)
113 North 200 East Suite #3
St. George, Utah 84770

 

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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