Revisiting an issue of public concern, West Bountiful’s city council made decisions to implement new safety measures at the intersection of 400 N 800 W during a meeting on Dec. 2.

“We’ve never stopped working on it,” said city administrator, Duane Huffman. “We’ve looked at it. We’ve monitored it, and we just continue to come up with different ways to address it.”

The city — who recently received recommendations from a traffic safety engineer at the Utah Local Technical Assistance Program – endorsed actions to add flashing lights and reflective tape to stop signs in the area. Orders have been made for the resources, as well as directions to potentially remove trees that block visibility.

Attending the Dec. 2 meeting were two residents who neighbor the intersection. A roadway located near families, the issue has been brought to the council in the past. During a meeting on Sept. 3, 2024, the city decided to invest $6,400 into a traffic study of the area with researchers at Horrocks. Results were reviewed by the council in January, and were provided to the safety engineer for review. 

“I think it did give us a pretty good idea of how many people are using it, and it also gave us some pretty good data on what vehicles are actually doing there,” said Huffman about the study. “I think there was initially a lot of concern that people were just blowing through that stop sign, especially going east to west, and it didn’t really show that. It did show that people were kind of rolling through when they were making right-hand turns in different directions, so that’s something we obviously need to try to improve.”

According to Huffman, the city would’ve liked to have seen more recommendations from the report than what Horrocks provided. Local resident Kaitlin Howard issued criticisms about the study as well, and says that the research material wasn’t placed close enough to where the problem is occurring.

“The strips on the road were past my circle,” said Howard. “They’re already speeding up [there] because they’re going up into the city near the freeway versus where the pedestrians are crossing or where we’re trying to turn in and out of our circle, which also is a road. It’s not just our circle.”

Howard belongs to a group of parents in the neighborhood who’ve addressed problems at the intersection for years. A spot where individuals speed up and run stop signs to shorten their commute, a group of parents team up with her to walk their children across the street each day to school. 

Apart from talking to the city, those living in the area have taken actions as well to increase safety. Together, the neighbors installed cups to the stop sign polls and placed flags in them. They’ve also informed local law enforcement about activities in the area.

Despite these measures, Howard still says that a close call with a potential collision happens frequently — even with the adults walking their children through. During her calls to city hall, she expressed her belief that a crossing guard should be at the intersection, but has been told that the solution wouldn’t be feasible due to available resources and demand. That said, she did note that the lights and tape are a step in the right direction. 

“It’s just one of those things where we’re already doing I think as much as we can, and we’re just kind of at the mercy of what they’re going to spend money on and what resources they’re willing to send our way,” said Howard. “That’s all we can really do is just make sure that [our children] are crossing safely, and keep asking for help and hope that they’ll give us the help we need, which I know takes time and resources and money, so we’ll just try to be persistent.”