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Show lip In Arms Qvep Traffic By GARY R. BLODGETT VAL VERDA - Residents of this south Davis County community were "up in arms" again over the traffic hazards along 3100 South (Val Verda Arch Road). ANGRY RESIDENTS petitioned peti-tioned the Davis County Commission Com-mission for a traffic study of the area about two weeks ago. It was like adding fuel to the fire this week as a result of a tragic accident which occurred oc-curred last Friday morning when a large, 10-wheel dump truck, loaded with 16 tons of rock and gravel, lost its brakes while returning from Indian Springs west on 3100 South. THE RUNAWAY truck, with its driver still at the wheel, slammed into two parked vehicles and then went airborne nearly 40 feet and crashed cab-first into the kitchen of an expensive, but unoccupied home just west of Orchard Drive. Earlier, residents had presented a flood of complaints to the county commission about speeding, chuckholes, congested traffic and hazards of living on 3100 South. THE commission agreed that there should be a traffic study to determine the number of cars using the road, an assessment of a proposed traffic plan for the area, and a crackdown on motorists who exceed the 35 miles-per-hour speed limit on the street. It was also proposed that the street (3100 South) be considered for widening from a 50 to 69-foot right of way, installation of curb, gutter gut-ter and sidewalkand altering the intersection of 3500 South and Orchard Drive. COMMISSIONERS said thev hear complaints almost daily from residents along 3100 South. Sheriff Brant Johnson said several residents had even petitioned to have the speed limit changed from 35 to 25 miles an hour. Residents said they were fearful for the safety of school children who are forced to walk in the road because of lack of sidewalks. IRONICALLY, THE loaded truck that roared out of control con-trol down 3100 South last Friday morning did so at about 9: 10 a.m. only a few minutes after school children had flocked along the road on their way to school. Witnesses said a loaded school bus also was at the intersection in-tersection of 3100 South and Orchard Drive just moments before the tragic accident. REGARDING THE request for a lower speed limit, however, commissioners noted not-ed that a study of traffic flow would have to be determined before a reduced speed limit could be enforced. Commissioners said they would need a traffic study to determine the speed limit request and that the study might as well include other complaints of the area residents. JOE MORE, Davis County Planning director, said problems along 3100 South stem primarily from the fact that the road was built many years ago to serve a sparcely populated farming and residential area. "In recent years," he said, "it has become instead a major traffic route for persons per-sons living in the subdivisions which have sprung up in the foothills east of Orchard Drive." HE ADDED THAT the Orchard Drive and 3100 South intersection is hazardous because it is narrow and the two roads meet at a slight angle. "The intersection should be changed to allow the streets to meet perpendicularly and Orchard Drive widened with paving to allow cars more room to pass each other," he told the commission. COMMISSIONER Morris F. Swapp said he feels the curb, gutter and sidewalk project is vitally important if the traffic problem on 3100 South is to be solved. Residents have previously bitterly opposed this proposal because of the closeness of some homes to the street. Commissioner Swapp said curbs and gutters also would help alleviate flood problems and would greatly reduce' the chuckhole problems because curbs and gutters would keep the road from breaking up along the edges. |