Ask someone from western Salt Lake County about their biggest transportation woe, and almost always the answer will include complaints about east-west traffic.

More east-west roads. Bigger east-west roads. Less traffic.

That's what they want.

"We don't have enough east-west roads," said West Valley resident Jeff Thurman.

Friday, state lawmakers took a small step to help solve the east-west traffic problems in the county. A bill that would give the Utah Department of Transportation $1.5 million to study potential traffic improvements from 2100 South to the Utah County line passed unanimously out of committee.

HB108 now moves to the House floor for further debate. Its sponsor, Rep. Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley, said Friday that he was surprised the measure passed unanimously, but pleased that it was one step closer to being passed.

"I really want this bill to be serious and to be the basis for future discussions and to lay the groundwork for what we will do in the next 20 years," Bigelow said.

HB108 requires UDOT to study possible east-west transportation fixes that range from widening existing roads to building a new east-west freeway. UDOT would be required to report its findings to the Legislature, which would then determine what should be done next.

UDOT has done some studies of east-west traffic, but has not taken a broad look at the issues, UDOT deputy director Carlos Braceras said. One study is to see whether some east-west roads could be turned into one-way streets to allow greater traffic to flow through an area.

Another possibility to be studied is to widen some major east-west roads such as 5300 South to increase its capacity.

During an hour-long debate about the bill, lawmakers raised questions about the $1.5 million price tag, and also questioned why there isn't a process in place to determine how transportation studies should be done.

"Do we all need to be running bills like this to study the corridors in our areas?" asked Rep. Christopher Herrod, R-Provo.

Braceras said that there is currently no system in place to prioritize when planning studies should be done. Also, the Wasatch Front Regional Council, which creates long-range transportation plans for the Wasatch Front, has a limited budget for studies.

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The Regional Council has done a small planning study of east-west traffic that determined up to 1,500 homes could be demolished if a new highway is built. But the group does support Bigelow's bill and says the price tag is reasonable.

"Our traffic projections show that very quickly, our roads will begin to fail, and in fact, they are failing in many areas already," said Sam Klemm, spokesman for the Regional Council, told the committee. "They're not going to get a little worse. It's going to get a lot worse."

To see a copy of the bill, log on to: www.le.state.ut.us and click on the tab that says "bills."


E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com

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