File photo. Logan mayor Holly Daines
LOGAN — On KVNU’s monthly Speak to the Mayor program on Wednesday, Logan mayor Holly Daines said progress continues along Main Street with the demolitions and new construction and she said it really manifests the spirit of investment that early settlers displayed.
“You think about our historic downtown, and the beautiful pieces that we have, the historic buildings, from the Tabernacle to the courthouse, to the Eccles theater. Our pioneer forefathers invested in those so many years ago, and now it’s our turn to, I feel like, do another round of investment to keep us going for another hundred years,” Daines said.
Road infrastructure with road improvements and possibly new stoplights are important to keep up with growth.
One thorn in the side of the city continues to be with the intersection of 1400 North and 600 West that also intersects with the railroad. In the recent session of the Utah Legislature, a bill passed that will lay groundwork when it comes to state and city interests as they work with the Union Pacific railroad.
The mayor hopes it helps their situation.
“We’re hoping this may force the railroad to be a little more reasonable, and we are actually in litigation with the railroad over that particular intersection. I had to laugh because one of their senior vice-presidents wrote an op-ed piece in the Salt Lake Tribune a couple of days ago, how they were such a great thing for Utah and so good to the community. I may write a rebuttal, it’s like Wow. (They) are the most difficult entity to deal with in the state.”
Daines said there are projects that they get approval on(from Union Pacific), but then they change the terms partway through.
A caller asked about doing something about the increasingly dangerous intersection of 1800 South along 1000 West(10th West). The mayor said 10th West is a UDOT road.
“We’ve discussed that with them and there will be a (stoplight)a little bit further north, but, again, it has to meet warrants. So as the property along 10-th West there develops, and the developer is then required to put in a road, that road will bring traffic from 1800(South) to a further north position where, then, there is a light. UDOT strategically places them so you keep traffic flowing.”
The mayor said if you have traffic lights too close to each other, it really defeats the original purpose of 10th West as a bypass that is supposed to move traffic.
She suggests that drivers might take a right turn at that intersection and go the long way around, rather than risking your safety and that of others.