Area motorists should find it easier to exit and enter I-15 next year when traffic signals are installed at the 650 North freeway junction.
According to Mayor Neldon E. Hamblin, the Utah Department of Transportation has designed signals for 650 North. The project is currently out for bid, and signals should be installed next spring.Motorists - particularly those who head north and exit on 650 North - sometimes have to wait as long as 20 minutes to turn left toward Main Street because Hill Air Force Base traffic travels unrestricted to and from the base.
The Roy I-15 exit received traffic signals earlier this year, and the signals at 650 North would be similar.
However, it is not clear yet if Hill AFB would move its security gate away from the traffic signals. The close proximity of Hill's main gate to I-15 is the major reason why the Roy traffic signals were completed ahead of Clearfield's.
Hamblin told the council at Tuesday's meeting he also wants traffic signals installed at I-15 and 700 South, just northeast of Clearfield High.
However, UDOT has not designed those signals, and Hamblin is worried funds available for traffic lights - which traditionally are scarce because of the high demand along the Wasatch Front - will dry up in six months.
Hamblin said he's working to pressure UDOT to also get 700 South signals designed quickly and then installed sometime next year.