One Tooele County commissioner has a plan to get gravel trucks off county roads in the north end of Tooele Valley.
With several gravel pits operating between state Route 36 and Droubay Road, residents have been complaining about safety issues of gravel trucks running through their neighborhoods and damaging roads not designed to carry large trucks filled with gravel.
County Commissioner Myron Bateman has proposed two new unpaved roads that would run east from SR-36 into gravel pit territory. He wants to build the roads at the same time the county realigns the intersection of Pole Canyon Road with SR-36 at Mills Junction.
One new road would run east from SR-36 and Stansbury Parkway into the gravel pits. The other new road would run east of Village Boulevard and go all the way to Droubay Road.
“The two new roads would be for gravel trucks only,” Bateman said. “After they are built, we would use weight restrictions to keep gravel trucks off of other county roads, like Pole Canyon and Bates Canyon roads.”
The new road at Stansbury Parkway would be for a right turn in and a right turn out only. There would be no gravel trucks making a left-turn at Stansbury Parkway. The new road would require no change to the stoplight at Stansbury Parkway and SR-36.
The stoplight at Village Boulevard would be reconfigured to allow a left turn onto the gravel truck road from southbound SR-36. Adequate acceleration and deceleration lanes and a left-turn lane at SR-36 and Village Boulevard would be added, according to Bateman.
Bateman wants to add the gravel truck roads in 2018, at the same time the county realigns the intersection of Pole Canyon Road and SR-36.
Pole Canyon Road is the road that heads east at the intersection of SR-36 and state Route 138. The realignment would create a 90-degree intersection at Pole Canyon Road and SR-36. The Center Street and Pole Canyon intersection, east of SR-36, would also be configured to form a 90-degree intersection, according to Bateman.
Survey work for the new roads has already been completed, the county owns the property it needs for the realignment of SR-36 and Pole Canyon Road, and the county has already applied for permits from the Utah Department of Transportation for the required changes to SR-36, Bateman said.
The cost of the road projects is estimated to be around $1.5 million, according to Bateman.
Bateman said $1 million of that cost can come from the funds the county will receive later this year from UDOT for the intersection of SR-36 and Village Boulevard.
Tooele County stepped up the completion of the extension of Village Boulevard to SR-36 in part by advancing money for the intersection from the county’s mitigation fees.
“These projects should increase safety by separating gravel trucks from residential traffic,” Bateman said. “It will also reduce the impact to our roads. Large gravel trucks will only be allowed on the weight restricted roads when making local deliveries.”