Cedar Valley Highway Study

The purpose of this story map is to present information about Cedar Valley Highway Study. The purpose of the study was to recommend a roadway alignment and cross-section that could be preserved for the future highway and upon which the local governments could reliably plan around, The study was performed in partnership with Mountainland Association of Governments (MAG) and Eagle Mountain City.

The idea of a north-south highway in the Cedar Valley is not new. The concept has been discussed for at least 15 years. It gained momentum in 2018, when UDOT finalized an SR-73 environmental study that recommended SR-73 be converted to a freeway with frontage roads from Mountain View Corridor in Saratoga Springs to Airport Road in Eagle Mountain. The Cedar Valley Highway was envisioned to be an extension of the SR-73 Freeway that would curve to run north-south through the Cedar Valley. Currently, the highway has been incorporated into the MAG Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and the Eagle Mountain Transportation Master Plan (TMP).

The impetus for the study came from the 2023 Utah Legislative Session where, the legislature:

• Appropriated $60 million in additional corridor preservation funds
• Specified that a portion of those funds must be spent on the Cedar Valley Highway

Based on that legislation, UDOT initiated this study to determine the corridor that should be preserved.

The primary scope of work items for the study were to:

• Hold one-on-one meetings with large property owners (and their development partners, if applicable), to understand their development plans and potential willingness to sell property to UDOT for corridor preservation
• Develop the corridor cross-section and alignment in coordination with MAG and Eagle Mountain City
• Perform a traffic analysis to determine the impacts and/or benefits to Pony Express Parkway and other city streets

The need for the Cedar Valley Highway comes from the planned land use growth in the valley over the next 25+ years. By 2050, the number of households and jobs in the Cedar Valley are expected to triple. If nothing is done, this growth overwhelm the existing transportation system in the valley.

The interactive GIS maps below show the estimated Cedar Valley household and employment growth from 2023 to 2050. There is a tab in the bottom left corner of the map to switch maps.

The study team determined that the Cedar Valley Highway cross-section should be similar to that of the planned SR-73 Freeway and would include:

• A six-lane freeway with one-way frontage roads on each side
• Trails on both sides of the corridor
• Total corridor width of 425 feet

Two alignment options were developed, as shown and described below.

Using the MAG travel demand model, a traffic analysis was performed to understand how well each alignment option would improve the roadway transportation system. In addition to an analysis of existing conditions, four scenarios were analyzed for 2050 conditions:

1. No Build representing no Cedar Valley Highway
2. Build on the MAG RTP/Eagle Mountain TMP alignment
3. Build on the Eagle Mountain Boulevard alignment

The table below compares daily traffic volumes for key roadway segments in the Eagle Mountain area. The table shows that in 2050 without the Cedar Valley Highway, Pony Express Parkway is projected to severely fail with 61,000 vehicles per day (vpd), which is over 50 percent more than its approximate capacity. The Cedar Valley Highway itself is projected to carry around 100,000 vpd at the northern end of the corridor and about 50,000 vpd at the southern end, indicating very high demand for the road.

The interactive GIS maps below show detailed traffic data for all the roads in the Cedar Valley for all four of the scenarios. There is a tab in the bottom left corner of the map to switch scenario maps.

Option 2, the Eagle Mountain Boulevard alignment was selected as the preferred alignment. This was due to the simpler nature of the alignment that will make corridor preservation easier by generally running along property boundaries rather than cutting through the middle of properties, which resulted in more property owners along the alignment being willing to sell portions of their property to UDOT. Additionally, the 2050 traffic volumes on Pony Express Parkway are only slightly higher than those from the Option 1 alignment, thus the traffic impacts to that city street would be relatively minor.

Two sensitivity tests were performed to see how 2050 traffic volumes would change if there was a new roadway connection from Eagle Mountain to Saratoga Springs and Mountain View Corridor and if the land use growth patterns were different. The new roadway connection would be an extension of Mid Valley Road to the east across the foothills and into Saratoga Springs. The new land use scenario would have more growth closer to the center of Eagle Mountain City.

The table below compares 2050 daily traffic volumes for key roadway segments in the Eagle Mountain area. It shows that Mid Valley Road is projected to carry nearly 30,000 vpd and reduces traffic Pony Express Parkway by over 10,000 vpd, thereby providing substantial congestion relief on that critical city street. The volume differences from the land use sensitivity test are much smaller than for Mid Valley Road, indicating that traffic will still find its way to the major roads regardless of where growth occurs.

The interactive GIS maps below show detailed 2050 traffic volume comparisons between each sensitivity test scenario and Option 2 for all the roads in the Cedar Valley. There is a tab in the bottom left corner of the map to switch scenario maps.

• UDOT will work via the Corridor Preservation process to acquire property within the identified alignment from property owners that are willing to sell their land
• MAG and Eagle Mountain will update their transportation plans to reflect the Eagle Mountain Blvd alignment