Gridlock looming in St. George

ST. GEORGE — Drivers on St. George Boulevard and Red Hills Parkway, the city's two main east-west corridors, could find themselves at a standstill by the year 2030 unless significant improvements are made to the transportation system, according to a recent traffic study commissioned by the city.

"A lot of improvements are needed systemwide," said Jennifer Bassett Hales, an environmental planner with the firm Jones and Stokes in Salt Lake City. "Regardless of which alternative is chosen, it won't fix all the east-west transportation needs in the city."

Three traffic-solution alternatives under consideration by St. George, the Utah Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration were presented to the public in a workshop Thursday evening. It was the second public open house on the subject.

As the county seat in Washington County, St. George is bearing much of the brunt of the county's phenomenal growth patterns over the past decade. The Governor's Office of Planning and Budget estimates that by 2030, Washington County will triple in size to nearly 354,000 residents.

The traffic study, conducted by transportation consultants Fehr & Peers, paints a grim picture of gridlock throughout the city, with an average delay of more than 80 seconds at each intersection along the boulevard and Red Hills Parkway.

"These alternatives address a specific need to move traffic east and west," said Aron Baker, a city traffic engineer. He noted that $20 million in federal highway-administration funds are available for whichever alternative route is selected.

The three proposals include widening the existing alignment of Red Hills Parkway from its current two-lane roadway to five or seven lanes. Both of these routes would require disturbing from six acres to 20 acres in the Red Cliffs Desert Tortoise Reserve. The seven-lane alternative would require removal of a local landmark, a red sandstone hill with the word "Dixie" whitewashed on the side facing the city.

A third, seven-lane route, which would cut 90 acres of new ground through the ecologically sensitive tortoise reserve, would start at milepost 13 on I-15 near Washington City and link up with an expanded Red Hills Parkway.

Bassett Hales said the St. George City Council seems reluctant to pursue the third alternative, which was identified as the "northern corridor" on maps provided at the open house.

"The northern corridor would definitely be more expensive and have a greater impact on the reserve," she said. "The federal property appraisal on land right now (in the traffic study area) is $75,000 an acre."

However, Washington County is also pursuing the idea of building a northern-corridor route through the desert-tortoise reserve. The county's plan, too, is in the conceptual stage.

An environmental assessment of each alternative in the city's plan is under way and should be released to the public by the spring of 2007. Bike lanes and trails are included in each of the proposed routes.

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com