Road closure criticized

MIDVALE — The recent closure of a major road here left inconvenienced motorists and businesses seeing red, and not just because it put them out. They're mad, they say, because it didn't have to happen.

On Oct. 17, Midvale closed 7720 South, Midvale's Center Street, which becomes 7800 South in West Jordan. The closure was part of the city's cleanup of its federal Superfund site, east of the Jordan River to 700 West between Center Street and 7200 South. The city has been hauling clean soil to cover the slag left over on the old smelter site, and that has meant double-belly dump trucks traveling to the site daily.

Those trucks are big, Mayor JoAnn Seghini said, with a "significant" turning radius. When the trucks turn right, they need at least two lanes. To turn left, they need four.

That's why Midvale hoped to have the trucks leave the freeway at 7200 South, go south on 700 West, then west on 7720 South to the site. From the site, they would turn right again onto 7720 South, travel into West Jordan, go north on 1300 West, east on 7000 South (which becomes 7200 South in Midvale) and get back on the freeway. The whole trip would never require a left turn.

But that plan was dropped when West Jordan officials said no.

"So we said, 'Fine. If we don't have permission to run through your city even though the trucks would be empty . . . we will close the roads from 7:30 in the morning to 5:30 at night so the trucks can get out,' " Seghini said.

The road recently reopened after more than two months of being closed, and local businesses say they felt the impact.

"People couldn't get down here," said Les Brown, manager of Midvale Radiator, which is just west of 700 West between 7200 South and Center Street. "They couldn't find it, so they'd go a different way and go somewhere else."

Brown said during the months the road was closed, he saw a 60 percent reduction in his expected business, based on last year's business and his recent addition of an automotive repair workshop.

He said he had to lay off a mechanic to make ends meet. Since the road reopened, he said, business is "back to normal now. I'm booked right through next week like I normally am."