The Endless Saga of the Provo Canyon Road

In the late 1970s, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) began planning to widen Highway 189 through Provo Canyon. They used the pretext of improving road safety to begin building-stealthily-an alternative to I-80 as the main truck route from the east onto the Wasatch Front. The four-lane portion of the highway now reaches to the turn-off to Sundance Resort at Wildwood.

In 1995 UDOT completed an environmental impact statement that recommended rebuilding and widening US 189 from Wildwood to Deer Creek State Park on its current alignment next to the Provo River. But in September 2002, they changed their minds and announced plans to widen and realign this highway through the Canyon Meadows subdivision, located on an old landslide. Geologists tell us the landslide under Canyon Meadows is currently stable but threatened. After destabilizing the slopes below Canyon Meadows, UDOT now plans to place the highway on the stable, but threatened portion of the slide through Canyon Meadows. The weight of construction and the resulting heavy traffic could reactivate the entire slide with catastrophic consequences to homeowners, wildlife, the proposed new highway, and Provo River. Think Thistle Slide.

Canyon Meadows was designed to be a sanctuary for wildlife. Common areas will always remain open without buildings and preserve natural wildlife corridors. Perimeter fences are not allowed. It is home to deer, moose, cougars, and other animals, and provides the winter feeding ground for a herd of over two hundred elk. Wild turkeys feed and breed here, and Sandhill cranes raise their young on the meadow. The relocated highway slicing through Canyon Meadows would replace this habitat with the noise, disruption and mortal danger to wildlife of pounding traffic.

At considerable taxpayer expense, the Middle Provo River, from Jordanelle Dam to the upper end of Deer Creek Reservoir, has been restored to a nearly-natural condition with inviting streamside vegetation and meanders that mimic a river's natural state. Habitat for birds and fish has been improved, and the newly restored river is once again one of the natural wonders of the West. Most of us are now accustomed to the irony of one branch of government destroying the environment while another tries to restore it. UDOT, untroubled by the irony, is now doing its best to degrade the Lower Provo with the questionable widening of US 189. Click here to find out more about the restoration of the Middle Provo.

During the 1980s, the Utah Valley Group of Sierra Club was actively involved in fighting the Provo Canyon Road widening. At that time, UDOT was using the same technique of pushing an environmentally-destructive road widening on the dubious and still-to-be-proved grounds that it would improve public safety.

UDOT continues to justify the widening of US 189 by insisting on the need to improve the highway's safety. We challenge UDOT to produce the evidence to prove that each mile traveled on the four-lane portion of the highway is safer-by a statistically significant margin-than each mile traveled on the two-lane portion of the highway. Without that evidence, the gigantic expense, the potential geologic hazard and the environmental degradation all demand a stop to the widening of the road. For more information, contact Vic Orvis at vorvis@accountlan.com.

Please let the following officials know that you oppose the expense and environmental degradation of the widening of US 189.

The Honorable Mike Leavitt, Office of the Governor 
210 State Capitol 
Salt Lake City UT 84114
(801) 538-1000 
governor@utah.gov

John Njord, Executive Director Utah Dep't of Transportation 
4501 South 2700 West 
Salt Lake City UT 84119
(801) 965-4000 
jnjord@dot.state.ut.us

Glen Brown, Chairman Transportation Commission 
P.O. Box 253 Coalville UT 84017
(801) 355-6079 
gbrown@gov.state.ut.us