600 N. barrier questioned

He probably isn't the only motorist who questions why 600 North is barricaded just east of the new I-15 interchange.

But Rep. Gerry A. Adair, R-Roy, apparently is the only one of them with enough political clout to get the Utah Department of Transportation to reconsider the detour route.Adair, who sits on the state Legislature's Transportation Interim Committee, asked committee members this week to vote on whether UDOT should remove the barrier that blocks eastbound 600 North traffic and forces it to go north or south on 400 West.

Adair said it doesn't make sense to build the new interchange, then not allow drivers direct access to 300 West - a main artery into the city - and to more direct access to points beyond, including the state Capitol Building.

"You have to be able to move the public," he said after Wednesday's meeting. "You're stopping the access for people getting into the city."

Some of Adair's colleagues questioned whether an interim committee had the power to force UDOT to do anything. Others said they didn't know enough about the issue to make a decision.

Ultimately, the committee voted 10-6 to ask UDOT to re-evaluate its placement of the barrier on 600 North.

UDOT executive director Tom Warne said the department would comply. He said now is a good time to assess traffic volumes on 300 West since the 600 North interchange has been open for nearly a month.

The rationale behind barricading 600 North is that 300 West already is at capacity during rush hour. UDOT and its I-15 reconstruction contractor, Wasatch Constructors, felt it best to lead I-15 traffic onto 400 West, then let motorists use a variety of streets to access 300 West and other parts of the city. That, they felt, would prevent gridlock on 300 West and help protect area residents.

"If you do what Rep. Adair is suggesting, we would have to take other measures to be sure traffic is going where we want it to go," Warne told the committee. "I have to do what I think is professionally correct from a transportation safety standpoint."

Rep. Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake City, defended the barrier. He said it diffuses the traffic load that could otherwise continue west on 600 North into neighborhoods.

Becker said community leaders, including himself, worked for months with UDOT, Wasatch Constructors and the city to come up with a way to keep neighborhood intrusions to a minimum. Without the barricade, Becker said, traffic would be dangerously heavy on streets outside a nearby school.

But Adair and Rep. Brian R. Allen, R-Cottonwood Heights, said the additional traffic now streams past West High School on 400 West.

"The day a kid is hit and killed at West High School is the day that barricade comes out," Allen predicted.

Warne said the barricade always has been intended as a temporary measure. It is scheduled to be removed in about 18 months, once the 500 and 600 South freeway ramps are rebuilt. Adair said he fears the barricade will become a permanent feature.