UDOT changing Layton Main St. plan

LAYTON — Business owners on Layton's Main Street may get to keep some of their parking after all.

The Utah Department of Transportation has agreed to redesign a new interchange in southern Layton that would have eliminated some of the business parking on Main Street.

Business owners were preparing to protest the part of the project involving widening of Main Street near Gentile Street just as UDOT was getting ready to break ground on the $97 million project. The owners feared they would lose business because the plan would have widened Main Street and done away with parking they felt is critical to get customers in their doors.

So they formed the Downtown Layton Property Group to stay involved in the construction process and to try to convince UDOT to scale back its plans for widening Main Street.

During an Aug. 25 meeting, owners pointed out to UDOT's contractor how a wider Main Street would be detrimental to their businesses, said Cornelius Delight, one of the property owners.

"People were very concerned about losing that parking," said UDOT spokesman Vic Saunders. "(Our contractor) is trying to come up with a compromise that will give the businesses more parking space and retain the functionality of roadway on Main Street."

It will take at least another week of patience before property owners know how the redesigned road will look, Delight said, adding that he still opposes any changes to the current setup.

"There really isn't something to change," he said. "It looks beautiful."

Saunders said he doesn't know how the new design will look, but he added that it will be released to the public when it's completed.

Saunders also said UDOT wants to be responsive to the public's concerns.

"We do that with every project," he said. "We have to make sure our project is safe for everyone."

Currently, UDOT is building extra lanes on Interstate 15, and when they are completed, Saunders said, traffic will flow around the construction in southern Layton.

Interchange bridges will be built away from the construction site in a "bridge farm" and rolled into position when complete, similar to UDOT's bridge replacement project on I-80 during 2008.

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