The intersection of 1200 South and 500 East in Heber City has been the site of two accidents during the past few months. On Tuesday, the Heber City Council acted to hopefully prevent any more by awarding a contract for a traffic light at the crossing.
The meeting took place just over a week after a 14-year-old boy was hit by a van while travelling to school on Sep. 14, leaving him in critical yet stable condition.
According to Russel Funk, the city’s engineer, the decision was set to take place Tuesday evening even before the most recent accident.
Funk explained to the council that the project was already in the works, originally scheduled to take place in the Spring of next year to ensure the city had sufficient funding for other large projects in the works.
“As school started this year, there was an accident there,” he said.
This prompted council member Rachel Kahler to push for a sooner date for the traffic signal’s installation.
“The plans have been designed and complete and ready to go out to bid for a few months,” Funk said. “That project was advertised and was out to bid already when this accident happened. The schedule that we’re on currently was already underway with the intent of award tonight.”
It is expected the signal will be operational by the end of the year.
“The reason it’s taking maybe longer than we want, maybe, is delay of or availability of materials for it,” he said. “If they’re available, that schedule will be accelerated. If they’re not available, it might get pushed a little.”
The contract was awarded to Skyline Electric to construct the signal for an estimated $144,965.