Design plans continue for 2300 East

Residents and business owners in Millcreek are taking the opportunity to get involved in the changes affecting their community on 2300 East, from the 1-80 interchange to 3900 South.

“The goal is to have a livable community street while keeping any right of way purchases to a minimum,” Andrea Pullos, Salt Lake County transportation manager, said.

A public open house was held last August to present the project stages of visioning, design concepts, environmental study, final plan and construction. It was also to gather information from the community for improvement options for seven possible elements on 2300 East.

In November, a second public open house was held at Rosecrest Elementary. Community feedback from the August open house generated the design concepts displayed at that open house.

The November open house showed four proposed road enhancement options for 2300 East created by the project team of H. W Lochner, UDOT, PRATT and the Salt Lake County Engineering Department. These options included a 62-foot street layout and a 68-foot street layout.

The county currently has an existing right of way of 66-foot with a buffer of one foot per side on 2300 East from 1-80 to 3900 South as it is a county road. The design plan by the project team which is moving forward from the open houses is a 68-foot plan. This is based on physical impacts as well as community feedback.

According to Pullos, this plan will be flexible in maintaining individuals’ property, keeping within the current right of way held by the county. This plan is expected to cause only minimal changes to any single residence or adjacent business to maintain the integrity of the overall street.

The elements included in these plans were designed to enhance pedestrian access and safety, aesthetic landscaping, bike paths and consistent sidewalks and curb and gutter on 2300 East.  “There are good things that can be done. We have needed sidewalks for years,” Joan Skene, a local resident, said.

At the November open house, there were also design options for a roundabout at the entrance to Canyon Rim at the 1-80 interchange. The plan showed designs for a six-leg or five-leg model.

The five-leg roundabout model is currently being studied to see if it will work at the location of the 1-80 interchange and 2300 East.

“A traffic analysis study is to be done because in concept it works, but real numbers can determine the feasibility of it in this area and determine if this will actually minimize the current problems of speeding and high traffic volume safety,” Pullos said.

Salt Lake County was allotted $6, 510,000 by the federal government to design and build the 2300 East project. Salt Lake County had to come up with a matching $210,000 for the project. In addition, the state legislature allocated just under $2 million to assist with this project. Currently, the project is still in the design stage. The funds will be available by 2015.

A group of people invited by the project team that represents businesses in the area, individual residents and those interested in bike and pedestrian safety have been meeting as stakeholders in this project. For the past few months, stakeholders have met with representatives of the project team’s steering committee to discuss ongoing concerns and the effects of each proposed enhancement.

These meetings have led to the public open houses. The final public open house for the design phase is March 6 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Rosecrest Elementary, 2420 East Fisher Lane (2940 South).