Surprised by a new three-way stop in their neighborhood, around 50 Lake Point residents upset about gravel truck traffic gathered at the community’s fire station Thursday night.
Jamie Olson, of Lake Point, organized the impromptu meeting at the request of Tooele County Commissioner Shawn Milne.
The catalyst for the meeting was a three-way stop installed by the county at the intersection of Pole Canyon Road and Center Street, which is east of the stop light at Mills Junction.
“I was talking to Commissioner Milne about the new three-way stop,” Olson said. “I told him we’ve got to get the word out about the new stop and I suggested using a Facebook post. He said he would prefer a face-to-face meeting.”
The intention of the meeting was to educate the public about the three-way stop and what the county was doing about the gravel trucks that drive through Lake Point, according to Olson.
“It was a good meeting,” Olson said. “We accomplished the purpose, and I’m thankful for all the representatives from the county that showed up at such a short notice.”
The three-way stop was added to make the intersection safe as gravel trucks leaving the north entrance of the PacWest Gravel pit meet other traffic at the intersection, according to Milne.
Several Lake Point residents at the meeting said they had never heard of Pole Canyon Road. The pavement for Lake Point’s Center Street takes a turn towards the stoplight at state Route 36 with a solid yellow line painted around the corner.
“It’s obviously a through flow with no stop,” said one unidentified Lake Point resident during the meeting.
Part of the problem was that the county installed the stop signs for the three-way stop without any advance notice or warning signs, according to Olson.
“Some people have been driving though there for years and all of a sudden there’s a stop sign,” Olson said. “Some people forget and don’t stop.”
After installing the stop signs, the county installed variable message signs ahead of the stop signs warning of the new stop ahead.
“The warning signs have helped,” Olson said.
Milne, who was accompanied at the meeting by Tooele County Sheriff Paul Wimmer and representatives of the county road department, said the county has already purchased the property in the area to rebuild the intersection of Pole Canyon Road and Center Street into a proper paved right angle intersection.
Work on the intersection should start sometime in the next 24 months, he told the residents at the meeting.
The county has budgeted money this year to begin engineering work on the intersection of Pole Canyon Road and SR-36, according to Tooele County Recorder/Surveyor Jerry Houghton.
“We have to get a permit form UDOT,” he said. “And in order to do that, we have to show them our plan.”
Lake Point residents also expressed concerns about the safety and inconvenience of getting stuck behind gravel trucks that are trying to turn east off of southbound SR-36 onto Pole Canyon Road.
The trucks often make the turn on a yellow light, leaving other traffic waiting for two or three cycles to make the turn, according to residents.
According to Milne, Utah Department of Transportation officials have said they will look at changing the timing of the left-turn light and extending the left-turn lane.
Years ago when UDOT widened SR-36 and installed the light, there was less traffic making the east turn off of SR-36 southbound at Mills Junction, according to Milne.
Some residents were concerned about the legality of PacWest setting up a gravel operation off of Pole Canyon Road. The operation appeared without following the county’s conditional use permit process, which would have allowed residents to raise concerns, they said.
Milne explained that the property has sand and gravel extraction rights connected with it that have been grandfathered dating back to when Kennecott owned the property.
In addition to the new three-way stop, Lake Point residents voiced concern over their rural residential streets being used as a thoroughfare for gravel trucks.
“I live on Center Street with a very short front yard and young children,” said one resident. “When those trucks speed by, my whole house shakes and I am worry about the safety of my children.”
Lake Point residents’ concerns for safety are valid, according to Olsen.
“This is a rural area,” Olsen said. “We don’t have sidewalks. Our children have to ride their bikes and walk on the road.”
Another resident said the gravel trucks are often overloaded and uncovered, leaving some of their product on Lake Point’s roads.
When the county had complaints about overloaded trucks on Bates Canyon Road, the Utah Highway Patrol did come out with their commercial vehicle team and weigh trucks, according to Wimmer.
“They wrote very few citations because the trucks weren’t overloaded and they passed inspection,” he said.
Wimmer said that he can pull patrol from other areas and increase enforcement in the Lake Point area.
“Experience shows that things will improve for a while,” he said. “And then people will eventually return to their old habits.”
The county engineer can set weight restrictions, but the restrictions have to be based on an engineering study.
“Weight restrictions can’t be arbitrary,” Milne said. “And even with weight restrictions, we have to allow gravel companies to make deliveries.”
Wimmer said the county currently does not have an ordinance that allows deputies to write a ticket for trucks that exceed a county-imposed weight limit.
One possible remedy for the truck traffic through Lake Point would be a countywide ordinance defining truck routes for all of unincorporated Tooele County.
“The truck routes would have to be countywide with signs,” Milne said. “Commercial trucks would not be allowed on roads not designated as a truck route. If we create truck routes, then truck drivers that live in Lake Point, or other unincorporated areas, would not be able to drive their trucks to their home.”
Olsen thinks the truck route solution is worth serious consideration.
“I’m going to ask Commissioner Milne to look at truck routes,” she said. “It may have some drawbacks, but it looks like it might be the best way to keep trucks off of our neighborhood streets.”