Dear Congressman Hansen, The City Council appreciated your attendance at our Council meeting and the input you contributed towards resolving some of the anticipated impacts of the proposed U.S. 89 Corridor Project. As a community we support the project, contingent on UDOT meeting Farmington's essential needs listed as priority items 1 thru 4 on the attached "U.S. 89 Corridor Improvement Impacts" document. We are writing this letter to request your assistance in securing these four prerequisites as a condition of support of the project. We support the notion of drafting these prerequisites in the scope of the project to adequately define the negative impacts the U.S. 89 project creates on Farmington City. Included on the referenced list are other impacts of community concern. We believe that most of these items will be resolved during the E.I.S. and design process. However, items 2, 3, & 4 are not currently in the scope of the project and our priority #1 is of utmost concern. The City wants all of the items to be included in the review process of the project, but items 1 thru 4 should be prerequisite to funding. As you know, the Council and I are concerned that this project is constructed so that we maintain the economic viability of the commercial zone located on U.S. 89 in north Farmington. Item No. 1 best addresses this concern. Intended improvements in harmony with proposed road cross-sections would allow the community to maintain the at-grade intersection until the level of service dictates additional improvements. This community concern could be addressed by phasing of the project with this intersection completed in the last phase, or by delaying construction at this intersection until the commercial viability of the new development is not controlled by visibility and access criteria. Page 2 Your help in resolving items No. 1 thru 4 is appreciated. Inclusion of these items as outlined should not negatively impact
our neighboring community, but will significantly improve the impact on Farmington. If the timing or phasing of the Shepard Lane intersection can be addressed by providing interim TSM improvements; all safety, traffic flow, and planning issues can still be provided by this project without local conflicts. If additional clarification would be helpful, please feel free to contact us. Successful resolution of these issues, without a destructive influence of this process, remains our goal. Your leadership and your efforts to provide the funding to date and in the future are appreciated. Robert W. Arbuckle Mayor FARMINGTON CITY IMPACTS U.S. 89 CORRIDOR IMPROVEMENTS 1. UDOT should be requested to allow the continued operation of the at-grade signalized intersection as the level of service (LOS), and capacity remain favorable. Interim TSM improvements, including additional lanes for high demand movements, should be programmed to assure an acceptable
LOS for the next 10 to 20 years. If, in the future, UDOT desires to design and install a Single Point Urban Interchange (SPUI), the following elements should be considered: A. Safe pedestrian access from the west side of U.S. 89 across the SPUI to existing commercial and residential
activities on the east side. B. Consider design alternatives producing the least associated impacts to abutting property including, but not limited to, minimizing the height of SPUI structure by some minimal lowering of Shepard Lane, alternate treatments and analysis of which road should actually be elevated, and noise mitigation strategies for elevated structures/highways. C. The northbound off-ramp at Shepard Lane should be provided with "stop" control for eastbound motorists proceeding past Knowlton Elementary School. 2. The City of Farmington is negatively impacted by improved development of U.S. 89 if the project development does not include improvements through the connection to I-IS. The intersections of the improved U.S. 89 and existing I-IS occurs at Burke Lane. The improved U.S. 89 will exacerbate
the existing problems at this intersection. Re-establishment of Burke Lane with improvements to the intersection of the two major highways is necessary to mitigate the impact of this project and should be included in the proposed project scope instead of delaying this portion of the U.S. 89 improvements. Separation of community areas created by limited access highway construction could also be mitigated with this approach. 3. UDOT should carefully assess the drainage and wetland mitigation measures associated with the EIS process. The entire area from Farmington Junction to I-IS/Burke Lane should be included. The design mitigation alternatives analysis should include a detention/retention basin near the I-IS/Burke Lane interchange. (Small pockets of wetlands should be traded for one large enhanced wetland area.) This will also resolve a past problem created by Federal Highway construction. 4. Noise abatement alternatives should be examined through the entire corridor from Farmington Junction to Burke Lane. U.S. 89 improvements combined with the increased traffic projected on this road system will significantly increase noise (above current allowable Federal regulated levels) in the northwest portion of Farmington. This area currently exceeds allowable levels due to the past construction of I-15 without any noise abatement facilities, anticipated road elevation increases between Cherry Hill and Burke Lane will also increase this problem. Maintaining the commercial viability of this area would dictate that construction of sound walls through this area would not be acceptable to the community to mitigate noise pollution. Since a significant portion of the residential development in the community is sandwiched between I-15 and U.S. 89 in this location, the increased noise level combined with the unacceptable levels generated by 1-15 would have a significant negative environmental impact on the existing homeowners. Mitigation of this problem could be accomplished by construction of sound walls along I-15 to significantly decrease existing
background noise. Farmington believes that this approach should be included in the proposed project scope. The negative visual impacts of this project could also be reduced with this approach. 5. Request that UDOT use aesthetic design and materials for retaining walls along on-off ramps at Shepard Lane. 6. UDOT should analyze and consider the elimination of the east frontage road from Fruit Heights to Farmington and
route traffic to the west side frontage road, to avoid impacts to Main Street. 7. Request that UDOT consider mitigation of adverse impact to access from the Knowlton Elementary School on Shepard Lane. The impacts to be assessed include, but are not limited to, sidewalks, drop-off zones, circulation, and access. 8. Due to the adverse impacts to access of abutting property resulting from the proposed expressway design of U.S. 89, UDOT should complete the proposed frontage and access roads as shown in their alternative drawings. Specifically, however, the access road as illustrated in Alternative 2, Drawing No.2 (Attachment B), should be redesigned to extend southeastward and connect with Burke Lane to the south. 9. SR 272 should be widened and improved with pedestrian facilities on the west side from Farmington Junction to Shepard Lane. 10. The northbound off-ramp at Shepard Lane should have stop control for eastbound motorists proceeding east past Knowlton Elementary School. 11. The alignment of 1875 North and SR 272 (Main Street) at Farmington Junction should be designed to establish a more direct route between the two east-west connections. Design alternatives for the interchange including impacts for Main
Street over versus under options should be presented to Farmington City for review and comment. 12. UDOT should include provisions for pedestrian, bicycle, and equestrian facilities compatible with Farmington's Master Plan at Farmington Junction and Shepard Lane. 13. UDOT should examine and provide for pedestrian access to the Smith's Shopping Center from the west side of U.S. 89 at Shepard Lane. 14. A second access from Main Street into the Smith's property as well as replacement parking should be provided to replace the lost driveway from u.S. 89 and any lost parking resulting from the widening and raising of U.S. 89. 15. Economic impacts resulting from loss of current access during construction and their mitigation should be addressed in the ElS. 16. UDOT's ElS should include any impacts resulting from placement of fill material near Shepard Lane on ground already having a high water table.
Highway 89
