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SALT LAKE CITY — One of Salt Lake City's busiest neighborhood centers is about to receive a major makeover — and for good reason.
A pair of simultaneous projects are set to begin in 2023 on 1100 East as it morphs to Highland Drive south of 2100 South. The first project replaces the crumbling road surface at 1100 East from 900 South to 1700 South in the city's East Central neighborhood; the other does the same from 1700 South to Interstate 80 in Sugar House.
"The project is really exciting because we have an opportunity to improve this roadway," said Lynn Jacobs, a transportation engineer for Salt Lake City. "What's driving this is our aging infrastructure. The pavement is in really bad shape ... and (this) gives us the opportunity to come in and correct a lot of the problems that this roadway has."
But wait, there's more.
Salt Lake City transportation launched a new survey on Wednesday seeking input on how to improve 2100 South from 700 East to 1300 East, where similar issues exist at the heart of the Sugar House business district. Construction is expected to begin in 2024 for that road.
Yet before any of the construction begins, Salt Lake City planners discussed their ideas with two dozen business owners at an open house Wednesday evening. Jacobs and his team went over the plans for the area and took in feedback on how to limit disruptions in the major business corridor once the project commences.
Reconstructing 1100 East/Highland Drive
The plans to improve 1100 East/Highland Drive and 2100 South come from the Funding Our Future bond that was approved in 2018.
The first project aims to tackle several issues with 1100 East/Highland Drive. It's a rather popular street because of the many businesses, especially by 2100 South, drawing in an estimated 12,000 to 16,000 vehicles daily. It's also where many new housing developments can be found in the city.
It's not just cars, though. The Highland Drive section of the project alone brings in about 500 pedestrians per day, according to city engineers. There's also a Utah Transit Authority bus route that runs through the street, which will pick up in frequency when the agency moves Route 220 from 1300 East to 1100 East beginning on Aug. 7.
Those who have traveled on the road know about road surface woes; however, Jacobs said there are other aging infrastructure problems on or underneath the road, including old drainage and water line issues, that will be addressed with the project. There are also problems with the sidewalks that have been damaged by the roots of trees along the street.
"We've got to rebuild this roadway. We can't wait any longer," he said. "It's got to happen; and over the last year and a half, as a project team, we've been working to come up with what we're going to put out there to make it better."
The plan is to dig down and replace the old infrastructure underneath the roadway, which may be tricky because there are all sorts of power and gas lines there, as well as fiber-optic cables. There are also old trolley rails under the roadway that will have to be removed.
Once the surface is built back up, the plan calls for a lane in each direction for cars, with a center lane that runs from 2100 South to I-80. That would be one fewer lane in each direction at the southern section of the road, but city engineers say they believe it will reduce the potential for crashes by 24% because of a high number of crashes they contend would happen with a center lane in place.
The design also calls for street parking on the east side of the road from Ramona Avenue to 2100 South, removing parking on the west side. Recent studies of the area found more people parked on the east side; engineers said the total number of parking spots on the street will only be reduced by about three stalls after the project is complete.
Given the area's higher walkability compared to other parts of the city, the project includes a multi-use path on the west side of the roadway from Ramona Avenue to I-80, where those riding bicycles or walking on the nearby Parleys or McLelland trails can "easily access" the businesses within the area's central business district, Jacobs added.
The plan adds a bike lane instead of street parking from 2100 South to I-80, too.
The overall plan would make it easier to bike on the road from 900 South to I-80. Meanwhile, Jacobs said the team is hoping to preserve as many of the trees that align with the roadway in the area as possible, though 14 trees are expected to be removed. New trees may be placed where possible, according to the city's plan.
"We just want to make it comfortable," Jacobs said. "We want to make this corridor somewhere where people would like to be, really like to come to visit, shop (and) be part of the community."
The point of Wednesday's meeting wasn't just to give Sugar House business owners a heads-up about the project, but also to help engineers as they craft a limitation of operation document, essentially a rulebook for a contractor to abide by during construction on 1100 East/Highland Drive.
Those rules haven't been developed yet, so Jacobs' team wanted feedback from those who will be the most impacted by construction as it begins in 2023.
Business owners who attended the meeting were overwhelmingly concerned by two construction impacts: closing the street for 90 days and utility service interruptions during the day. They were also not fans of the possibility that construction could last more than two years.
Night noise and one sidewalk closure lasting six months or more also resulted in some concern, while utility service interruptions at night, sharing driveways with neighbors and construction during the day and night seemed to be less of a concern.
Their feedback will be collected to go toward the final construction rulebook for a contractor to use when one is hired this winter. The construction is expected to be completed in 2024 because of its complexity.
On deck: Improvements to 2100 South
Earlier Wednesday, the same city transportation team launched a survey to help understand what residents want 2100 South to look like in the same area of Sugar House. Like 1100 East/Highland Drive, the roadway has seen plenty of wear and tear.
Jacobs said the two projects are "very interrelated" because they do cross paths. The survey asks residents to answer why they use 2100 South, what have they noticed when using it, and what improvements they'd like to see.
"We are at a great point in that project to hear just from everyone about how they use the roadway, issues that they have with the roadway, (and) opportunities to make it better," he said.
Initial designs are expected to be released by early 2023 when similar open house meetings with business owners and residents will be held. Construction is expected to begin in 2024, thus aligning with the end of the 1100 East/Highland Drive project.
All of this is also not terribly far from a project to reimagine 1300 East from 2100 South to 3300 South, at the business district's east end. Construction for the project is also expected to begin in 2024.
