By Alison Madsen
The Utah Department of Transportation wants to straighten out Provo Canyon.
UDOT is proposing to drastically change U.S. 189, which travels between Provo and Heber City.
First, project officials would continue to widen the highway, from one to two lanes in each direction, along the 5-mile stretch between Deer Creek State Park and the Wasatch/Utah county border.
Second, officials would reroute the highway in two areas. These moves would reduce the number of twists and turns in the highway making it safer to travel.
UDOT has already widened the highway at the mouth of the canyon, which has helped to reduce traffic accidents.
One of the locations where the highway will be moved is east of Horseshoe Bend.
The one-mile stretch of road has been unstable from a geological standpoint resulting in several rockslides, UDOT spokesman Geoffrey Dupaix said.
Dupaix said the road will me moved away from the river and up to an area where it will be more stable.
The other location where UDOT would like to move the highway is near Deer Creek dam. The proposal is to build berms on top of the dam taking the highway across the dam itself. This would create a gradual curve in the road and hopefully help to reduce the number of accidents in that area.
'The objective of the Provo Canyon Highway Project is to improve the safety and traffic-carry capacity of the highway by correcting substandard geometrics and other unsafe conditions,' UDOT states on its Web site.
However, not everyone is thrilled with this idea. Some landowners near the proposed highway sites are protesting the moving of the highway because it would then run through an area that is expected to eventually become a community.
Last week, two public hearings were held where the public could present their concerns and ask questions of project team members.
UDOT has also made its Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement available to the public on the project Web site at www.dot.utah.gov/provocanyon, for those who are concerned. They are also accepting written comments about the project. All comments must be submitted by November 11.