No to 820/800 North Widening
At Provo City’s Transportation Master Plan Open House held on February 20, 2020, the Provo City Public Works department unveiled its plan for Provo’s streets. It included a $75 million dollar widening of 820 North from Geneva Road to University Avenue.
The $75 million plan to widen 820 North from Geneva Road to University Avenue is a wasteful use of funds and harms our community.
The Problem:
Up-front Costs
$75 million dollars is an enormous amount of money. It’s more than Provo City’s annual General Fund Revenue ($67m), more than the cost of the new Provo City Hall ($65m), more than the new Provo Airport ($40m), and enough to fund the entire Provo Police department for nearly four years (at $18m per year). For a 2-mile stretch of roadway, we’re looking at $38 million dollars per mile. The American Road and Transportation Builders Association says that building 6-lane interstates costs around $10 million per mile in urban areas. $38 million per mile is an outrageous expense. And this single road widening project costs more than all of the planned roadway projects in Phase I of the Master Plan combined.
Why does this project cost so much money? Largely because of the buildings along 820 North Provo City will have to purchase and demolish.
Higher Maintenance Costs,
Lower Property Taxes
Road widening projects are often a lose-lose-lose financially because not only do cities pay massively up front to widen the road, but they also are saddled with increased maintenance costs of a larger road, and decreased property taxes as property-tax-producing buildings are replaced with asphalt that doesn’t pay any tax.
Before: 800 North with three lanes at 25 MPG
After: Proposed 5 lanes with speeds up to 45mph
Car Crashes
Wider roads bring more cars and higher speeds. More cars and higher speeds bring more crashes.
Check out UDOT’s map of crashes in Provo for an example. Most of the crashes in Provo happen on large roads with more traffic volume and higher speeds. By widening 820 North from three lanes to five, history indicates that we will have more injuries and fatalities on that road. And with hundreds of schoolchildren at Freedom Preparatory Academy and Ivy Academy on this road, this is not something we should tolerate.
A Community Barrier
When is the last time you walked across a wide, high-speed road? It’s probably been a while. Most of them are unpleasant to walk across by design–they limit the number of pedestrian and bike crossings to keep people out of the road and cars flowing through quickly.
Take the new 300 South for example. Though safer and more attractive than the road was before, it is still a barrier between Maeser neighborhood residents. The “No Pedestrians” sign in the top right corner shows you the intent–to funnel pedestrians to a select few crossings so that cars can drive quickly through the area. On a side note, University Avenue downtown is one of the few examples of a wide, fast road with ample pedestrian crossing points.
820 North from Geneva Road to 500 West gets 9,200 average daily trips at the busiest section and has decreased from a peak of 9,300 in 2003
820 North from 500 West to University Avenue gets 12,000 average daily trips at the busiest section near Utah Valley Hospital.
So what we need is a road that can carry 12,000 cars per day. The Provo City Transportation Master Plan says that a three-lane road can carry 16,000 AADT on a road with “moderate conflicts” (driveways, left turns, and those pesky people walking and biking). So a three-lane road is the fiscally responsible choice for our needs.
However, Provo City is planning to go all-in on a $75m five-lane road designed to carry 35,000 cars per day. That’s right, we are about bet $75 million dollars of taxpayer money against induced demand, hoping that somehow Provo City is the exception to this rule. This better be a joke.
The 2018-2019 Provo City Council said that our city government should budget to community priorities. This $75m road widening project shows exactly what our top priority is–the uninhibited rapid flow of cars through our neighborhoods.
What should we do instead?
Provo City engineers (and some frustrated peak-hour commuters) say that 820 North is “too congested”. Instead of going all-out on a $75m five-lane road, why not first make incremental, inexpensive changes to increase efficiency?
Remove Parking, Stripe 3 Lanes
At the south entrance to Utah Valley Hospital on 820 North, there's no left turn lane—just on-street parking. This causes backups as cars wait to turn. Why not remove parking and restripe to add a turn lane?
We're pretty sure restriping a few blocks costs far less than $75 million—more like tens of thousands. Consider this free consulting, Provo City. We don’t need payment, just a promise to keep the 820 N bike lanes.
Get Full Value from Independence Avenue
Independence Avenue is a fast and underutilized road (just 2k trips per day) that spans Center Street to 800 N without a single signalized intersection. Design changes should be made to make it easier for drivers to get from the Center Street I-15 ramp eastbound into Provo onto Independence Avenue.
A New I-15 Interchange at 820 North?
UDOT is now undergoing studies to determine if there is a need for an interchange between Center Street and University Parkway, and, if so, where it should go. No decision has been made yet. However, Provo City Engineering indicates that it will pursue the $75m 820 North road widening project regardless of a new interchange or not. This expense is unjustifiable.
And if UDOT were asking for BikeWalk Provo’s opinion, this is what it would be: we don’t want or need another interchange. It does not serve our community and only makes it easier for us to leave to shop, work, and contribute elsewhere. If you’re set on forcing one on us, 820 North is not the place for it. It’s just eight short blocks away from the Center Street exit and nowhere near halfway in between Center Street and University Parkway.
Let Provo City Council know that you do NOT support widening 800/820 North!
If this is something you do not support, please let your city council representative know right now! Email all of them at council@provo.org or fill out the form.
For more info about how road widening projects don’t solve congestion, see these links: