Vineyard's 2 roads too few

VINEYARD — Bracing for an expected population explosion over the next decade, Vineyard is working quickly to ensure current and future roads are ready for the increased load.

JUB Engineers presented a plan to the town's planning commission this week outlining potential road options to best carry residents through the former farmland.

Currently, there are two main roads — Vineyard Road and 400 South. There's also Gammon Road, but it doesn't weave all the way through the area.

The few rights of way are enough for the 150 or so residents. But with multiple housing developments coming and future commercial development on former Geneva Steel land, two roads won't be nearly enough.

"(Vineyard) wanted us to evaluate the existing roads that they had in their community and the proposed roads from the Anderson Development," said Alex Beseris, JUB Engineers environmental specialist/transportation planner. "We're (looking) at a complete network."

Some options for networking the lakeside area to the freeway and beyond could be a connection onto Orem's Center Street or even higher at 800 North or 1600 North in Orem.

However, any of these options mean the difficult task of crossing over the Union Pacific railroad tracks.

A connecting road from Gammon Road to Center would mean the smallest bisection of the triangular Geneva land, whereas an east-west road from north Vineyard to 1600 North in Orem would mean a lengthy jaunt across the Geneva land.

Along with the proposed east-west connectors to Orem, Beseris said they also proposed a handful of two-, three- and five-lane roads.

Running north and south, proposed Main Street Parkway would connect 400 South to Gammon and Vineyard roads with offshoots to a new 200 South Parkway.

There was also talk at the Tuesday night meeting of another light at Vineyard Road and 400 South to help regulate the traffic flow into Orem's sport park Lakeside Complex.

However, turning 400 South into a five-lane road would go against Orem's master plan, said Orem transportation engineer Paul Goodrich.

"We have a shared responsibility for what happens there," Goodrich told the commission. He explained how Orem's plan shows 400 South remaining an urban collector — a two-lane road with a turn lane — rather than a road with four lanes and a turn lane.

Goodrich said he was worried about pushing so much traffic into an already congested area, as well as having a five-lane road go past Vineyard Elementary, which sits just west of the light on 400 South.

"The traffic volume is projected to go from 6,300 today to up over 32,000," Goodrich said, citing JUB numbers for the intersection. He said that was comparable to Orem's 800 North and west of State Street, where traffic is almost constantly congested.

Goodrich encouraged a dialogue and future meetings between the two cities to help them resolve their transportation differences.

The planning commission took the study under advisement and will continue to look at options.

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