Councilman, others object to corridor route

PLEASANT GROVE — The proposed Mountain View Corridor route between its planned southern Redwood Road terminus and the current I-15 corridor at a point just south of the new Pleasant Grove interchange is not proving popular with city officials and the general public.

At a recent "Growth Choices" informational meeting hosted by the Mountainland Association of Governments, transportation planners introduced a route that would angle southeast from Pleasant Grove Boulevard on the west side of the interstate, cutting across farm fields and other open land to a point south of the Pleasant Grove/Lindon interchange.

Several people in the audience objected to the idea. They included Lindon City Councilman Jerald Hatch, who also sits on the board of the North Pointe Solid Waste Special Improvement District Board.

"That's our money in the bank," Hatch said, as he viewed the maps showing a road alignment that would bisect the landfill district's 40-acre plot. "We plan to sell it (the land) off eventually to pay for expansion of the transfer station."

Others said they too would prefer to see a route that would leave most land parcels intact by follow existing property lines and perhaps using existing roadways.

Planners Matt Sibul and Terry Newell said they are more than willing to take suggestions and comments as they try to find a route that works for the majority of landowners and the motorists expected to use the road.

Newell said construction of the road — which will be a limited access highway — is still several years away at best but noted it is time to firm up a preferred route.

Newell said an environmental impact statement for the preferred route will take approximately two years to develop after it is selected.

That choice will probably come by the end of this year, she said.

Construction funding will then need to be secured and a right-of-way purchased.

The new road also needs to be coordinated with the planned expansion of I-15 through Utah County to reduce duplication of efforts and unnecessary expenditures.

Sibul said the first time the east-west corridor was discussed, officials in the three affected cities — American Fork, Pleasant Grove and Lindon — asked that the four quadrants on each side of the Pleasant Grove/Lindon interchange be opened up so the area could be better developed.

Moving the road south would extend the on and off ramps and eliminate the need to build another American Fork interchange — likely at 500 East — in south American Fork. The cost of building the longer ramp roads would likely equal the cost of building a 500 East interchange, Sibul said, but they would still provide the needed freeway-to-freeway connection.

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