ST. GEORGE — The Washington City Council was given an update of some changes made to the preferred design of the pending Interstate 15-Main Street interchange at Exit 11. Construction of the new interchange could start as early as next year, depending on the timetable.
It has been three years since the Utah Department of Transportation rolled out the results of its final environmental impact study and record of decision concerning the Main Street-Exit 11 project. There have been some changes made to the overall design proposed by road planners since then. The Washington City Council was given a preview of those changes Wednesday afternoon.
Change in Main Street alignment and general improvements
Lee Cabell, of Horrocks Engineers, told the council the primary change made to the design involved the alignment of Main Street in relation to Brio Parkway. Originally, planners had Main Street move west where it connected to Buena Vista Boulevard directly opposite of Brio Parkway.
The proposed alignment was a great concern to residents of the Brio and the surrounding community due to the potential for increased traffic and other factors, Cabell said, and resulted in the redesign the council saw Wednesday.
Main Street will no longer tie directly into Brio Parkway. Instead, it will loop back toward the original alignment of Main Street. The segment of Main Street that sits between the new points of alignment will be abandoned with plans to fill in the existing underpass.
A new underpass will be built to keep the north-south connection. However, this will require closing access to Main Street for up to six months, Cabell said. Travel on Main Street may also be reduced to single-lane travel during portions of construction as well.
Washington City Mayor Kress Staheli asked about public safety access during that time. Cabell answered that the city’s police chief wouldn’t be happy with the answer.
Blocking off Main Street will require police, fire and ambulance units to detour to either the Green Springs Drive or Washington Parkway interchanges to get between the two halves of the city on either side of I-15.
UDOT will install sidewalks on either side of Main Street to preserve pedestrian and active transportation access, and a new traffic light will be installed at the intersection of Main Street and Buena Vista Boulevard. Lights will also be installed at the Exit 11 off-ramps as traffic volumes warrant it, Cabell added.
The overall speed limit on Main Street is anticipated to remain 30 mph as Exit 11 drops traffic into the middle of a preexisting neighborhood.
Initial plans also included roundabouts as traffic-calming measures, but have since been removed due to costs.
“We’re considering costs every month because everyday projects seem to be more expensive,” Cabell said.
Staheli then asked about the project’s aesthetics, and noted the city has money set aside to help with some of the costs of that particular item.
“It’d be nice to have this be more than concrete and asphalt,” Staheli said. “It’d be nice to have a little bit of character where it comes right into our downtown.”
This is one of many parts of the project planners are working on, Cabell said.
Improvements to the Green Springs interchanges and the surrounding area is also planned in connection the to the Exit 11 project.
Additional work and potential timetable
“A big component of this will be the widening of the freeway,” Cabell said.
UDOT plans to add a new lane of traffic to north and southbound I-15 between Washington Parkway/Exit 13 and Green Springs Drive/Exit 10. Work on widening is projected to occur around the same time as Exit 11’s construction.
Due the configuration of the highway in that area, it will allow UDOT to keep two travel lanes open on north and southbound I-15 during construction, Cabell said.
While there may be some additional tweaks in store for the overall design of the interchange, Cabell said, road planners expect design work to conclude in November with contractor bidding taking place soon after that. Should it all pan out, construction on Exit 11 and associated projects should begin by early March.
Area residents may see preliminary work for the new interchange happen as soon as next month as some of the properties bought to make way for the project begin to be torn down, Cabell said.
While most of the property and right-of-way needed for the interchange has been purchased, negotiations are underway for parcels UDOT still needs to acquire in the near-future.
Completion of the Main Street-Exit 11 project is slated for the end of 2023.
The planning process for the pending interchange began in 2017 and drew the ire of residents who lived on Main Street and the surrounding area in general. They expressed worry that the interchange would destroy the character of the downtown and invite unwanted elements into the community like increased traffic, lowered property values and criminal activity.
Those concerns mirror those of St. George residents on 700 South where a similar interchange has been proposed.
Local and state road planners see the Main Street/Exit 11 project as a much-needed addition to a regional transportation system that is overwhelmed by the increasing traffic the area’s growth has brought over the last decade. The planners say that Exit 11 is designed to help lower congestion around the heavily used Green Springs/Exit 10 interchange.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.
Washington City gets update on pending Main Street-Exit 11 project - St George News
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