Logan city officials say that the busy intersection at 1400 North and 600 West streets will remain a four-way stop for at least another week while public works crews attempt to resolve “unexpected and unprecedented” safety concerns.
LOGAN – Prior to extensive modernization and repair efforts late last year, the intersection of 1400 North and 600 West streets in Logan was a four-way stop.
After all that effort and multi-million dollar expense, including the installation of a traffic signal, the heavily-traveled intersection is still a four-way stop.
Logan City officials say that the Union Pacific Railroad is to blame for continuing confusion and motorists’ frustration.
When the improved intersection reopened in November, assistant city engineer Tom Dickinson warned motorists to exercise caution when using the road junction because its final design had not been fully realized.
“Travelers will notice that the roadway narrows on 1400 North as it approaches the railroad tracks (east of the intersection),” Dickinson explained. “The City of Logan has been working with Union Pacific Railroad on the design of the intersection since 2016. But, due to unforeseen delays in the permitting process, (widening of) the railroad crossing has not yet been completed.”
Ideally, in addition to widening the roadway over the railroad tracks to four lanes, warning devices would have been installed to advise motorists of oncoming trains.
Two months later, city officials acknowledge that negotiations with Union Pacific over the cost of installing and maintaining those warning devices are at an impasse that may require litigation to resolve. In the meantime, they say, city public works crews have had to improvise “non-traditional train detection methods … that caused several conflicts with installed hardware and software.”
For now, the traffic signal in the intersection is just flashing red in all directions, making the road junction a four-way stop again.
“The current ‘flashing red’ mode has always been an option,” according to a recent post on the city’s Facebook page. “But we are hopeful that we can create a more efficient signal setup without resorting to the ‘flashing red’ long term.
“We are waiting for new equipment to be installed (during the week of Jan. 25 to 31) and hope to have the signal operating again by the end of the week.
“If this new equipment does not improve the efficiency of the intersection,” city officials warn, “we will likely go back to the ‘flashing red’ until we can reach an agreement with Union Pacific.”
In the Facebook post, city officials apologized for motorists’ frustration with the situation and appealed for their continued patience while the “unexpected and unprecedented problems” are resolved.
They also promised that the intersection at 1400 North and 600 West will be a great asset to the city and its citizens when final improvements have been made.