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Show a bypass problem The problems of delayed planning- are upon Moab Cify, posin.ur expensive solutions, or less than desirable compromises. In spite of the optimism of early day residents, Moab was planned around one main thoroughfare, Main Street, which is also Highway 1G0. It has b:en apparent, however, since National Park ' status was accorded Canyonlands, that the street will not indefinitely be capable of handling both incoming and city traffic. Professional planners, the Ken R. White Company, logically disagreed with one plan to divert traffic to Fifth West Street. Business will follow the new route, the planners noted, and the result will be a sprawled, divided business section. Instead, the planners proposed alternate thoroughfares thorough-fares on 1st East and 1st West, thus encouraging a - composite downtown business district. Ideal, but not financially practical,. Commissioner Mars Pope said this week, in discussing the issue. He pointed out that acquisition of a right of way on either street would entail expensive purchases of private property, pro-perty, including some houses and businesses. However, he also pointed out that diverting traffic to existing Fifth West is not without its problems either. ei-ther. Somewhere along the line, the traffic would have to cross Main Street, creating a' hazardous traffic block, unless a cloverleaf type exit were designated. While this sounds cost prohibitive, it might be the' cheapest way out in the long run, he noted. At any rate, serious attention must now be given to the matter. The Utah State Road Commission, this ' week, adopted a resolution adding 2.2 miles of Fifth West Street to its secondary road system-to provide 1 j an alternate highway through Moab City. The alternate road, stats- officials reasoned, would I relieve traffic congestion during shift changes at Texas I Gulf Sulphur and Atlas Minerals, as well as accommo-: accommo-: date ore 'hauling trucks. f The State Road Department's decision, it was I learned, was made at the request of the Grand County Commission, to make monetarily possible the eventual bridging of Mill creek on Fifth West Street. While the route would solve to some extent the anticipated traffic congestion in Moab, it poses alarming alarm-ing problems. Similar problems, which seem as remote now as an overloaded Main Street seemed to early-day 1 residents can be avoided only by proper planning and zoning for the future. |