The holiday shopping season officially begins Friday, and Layton Hills Mall officials believe their facility ranks as northern Utah's most accessible mall - especially in light of new traffic signal improvements and road improvements on the mall's ring roads.
Mall manager Norm Morris said perhaps only malls in St. George and Logan can surpass Layton in accessibility.The mall, Layton City and Utah Department of Transportation all worked together this fall to rush adding left-hand turn signals before the holidays to the busy Gordon Avenue-Hill Field Road intersection that feeds the mall.
In addition, the mall added a left turn lane last month near Hastings and Hill Field Road, widened its road connecting with Gordon Avenue and has also beefed up security on its large parking lot.
Morris admits traffic flow still won't be perfect because of the sheer volume of holiday shoppers coming to the mall but stressed mall management is open to any suggestions for improvements from the public.
He said the recent opening of JC Penney has caused a jump-start on holiday traffic and four additional stores are also set to open in the mall. Sales have traditionally increased 12 percent every year, another reason for increased traffic.
Morris said extra lighting has been added around the mall's parking lots. Employees are also now parking around the parameter of the parking lots, opening more accessible spaces for patrons.
Morris said a traffic signal at the east entrance to the mall along Hill Field Road is still about two years away though.
To facilitate better traffic flow during the holidays, he suggested that patrons:
- Use one of the north entrances to the mall, whenever possible. This means taking the frontage road off I-15 exit No. 335 by Davis Hospital and Medical Center; or taking Clearfield's I-15 exit No. 335, going east to Hill Air Force Base's south gate and then going south down Hill Field Road to the mall.
- Plan their route so that they need to make only right turns.