It seems that Heber City and Wasatch County councils will not have every concern addressed with a new bypass route on U.S. 40. Craig Hancock of the Utah Department of Transportation said that, no matter what the bypass looks like, traffic will not see a dramatic change on Heber City’s Main Street. “I think we’re going to be able to reduce the congestion down to acceptable levels,” Hancock said. “Growth is always going to be there, and it will solve some of the congestion problems, but Main Street is always going to be busy.”Hancock presented a traffic study to Wasatch County Council Wednesday — UDOT’s latest step in the process of establishing a bypass route on U.S. 40, which has become increasingly congested. UDOT has been in discussion with Heber City Council and Wasatch County Council about the proposed bypass for years, and they have presented multiple iterations of route options to both entities.Craig Hancock, Utah Department of Transportation regional manager, said that UDOT’s traffic study shows a decrease in travel times across four alternative options for the upcoming U.S. 40 bypass route. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Utah Department of TransportationSince UDOT initiated research for the required Environmental Impact Statement, the organization has delivered a more concrete deadline, which Hancock reiterated at Wednesday’s County Council meeting. Hancock outlined key milestones included a draft of the Environmental Impact Statement, which they will deliver by fall 2025, and a record of decision the following spring in 2026. By fall 2025, Hancock said the draft Environmental Impact Statement will include the preferred bypass route alternatives. “Schedule-wise, we’re still doing well,” Hancock said. In the presentation of UDOT’s traffic study, Hancock discussed four bypass route options with estimated times for drivers traveling from S.R. 32 on the north side to a connection on U.S. 189. According to UDOT’s findings, travel times range from approximately eight minutes to about 13 minutes. UDOT’s traffic study also included what Hancock calls “freeflow options,” in which drivers would not have to stop when taking the proposed bypass route. With those suggestions, travelers would save anywhere from two minutes to nearly seven minutes. When Hancock said that, today, drivers can take S.R. 32 down to U.S. 189 in about 11 minutes and 30 seconds, County Manager Dustin Grabau expressed doubt. “What time of day is that?” Grabau said. “It takes 15 minutes to go half that distance.” According to Hancock, UDOT’s traffic study represents travel times during peak hours. “In either scenario, we see a good time savings on both of these solutions,” Hancock said about typical and freeflow route alternatives. The Utah Department of Transportation’s traffic study for the U.S. 40 bypass Environmental Impact Statement shows that freeflow bypass route options prove to have the most efficient travel times. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Utah Department of TransportationHeber City Council and Wasatch County Council have recently expressed concern about the number of semi-trucks traveling Main Street. Hancock said it’s not as bad as they might think. “I know that’s been a big subject of conversation here in the county and in the city and a lot of concern there of trucks,” Hancock said. “What we’ve done is we’ve separated out the private vehicles, pickups, vans and passenger cars.”UDOT’s traffic study shows that those vehicles represent about 92 percent of the traffic volume at peak travel times in the afternoon. The other 8 percent represents every other kind of vehicle, including semi-trucks. Hancock said that UDOT also broke down the numbers to see how many trucks and vehicles are coming from U.S. 40 versus U.S. 189. According to the data, approximately 19,500 vehicles are coming from U.S. 189. That’s in comparison to the 6,300 vehicles coming from south to north on U.S. 40. In response to questions about what percentage of travelers is made up of locals, Hancock said that about 50 percent of traffic is due to local drivers during peak hours. The other 50 percent is split evenly between what Hancock calls commuter traffic and cars just passing through to areas out of town. Hancock said that UDOT has attended meetings with the Utah Natural Resources Conservation Service and Utah Public Lands in December. Also this month, UDOT is scheduled to meet with both Wasatch County Council and Heber City Council. In January 2025, UDOT plans to continue conversations with the Wasatch Open Lands Board to keep “talking about conservation easements.”The post UDOT says bypass won’t erase Heber City traffic on Main Street appeared first on Park Record.