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Show BUILDING COMMUNITY IN OREM AN A rTRi rem EDITION THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2008 50 CENTS 1IMES SPORTS: Dwlz extend winning streak TOWN HALL: Tire boot tampering a crime SCHOOLS: Academy teaches leadership skills VytV INTENSE WORKOUTS AT FITNESS BOOT CAMP IB), rapoei vans ot raw amrovBd Reva Bowen NORTH COUNTY STAFF When a proposed multi-million dollar Bus Rapid Transit system comes to fruition, it will run right down the center of University Parkway in Orem. The Orem City Council heard a presentation on the project Tuesday Tues-day by city transportation engineer en-gineer Paul Goodrich and members mem-bers of Orem's Transportation Advisory Commission. Council members voted to approve a center-line University Parkway configuration as the preferred corridor for the Provo-Orem Rapid Transit system in the city's traasportation master plan. Two other options considered were a side-lane format on University Uni-versity Parkway and a route on 1200 South. The $150 million system would create exclusive lanes for modern, mod-ern, quickly boardable buses to travel from station to station along a route that would incorporate incorpo-rate future inter-modal stations in Orem and Provo, including proposed stops at Utah Valley University, University Mall, Brigham Young University, the Novell campus, and the Provo Towne Centre mall. The current Utah Transit Authority bus route that is similar to the BRT route proposal already has the highest rider-ship rider-ship in the state's UTA system, Goodrich said, with 4,400 passengers pas-sengers per day in 2005. By 2030, it is projected that the bus rapid transit system could carry 17,000 passengers or more through the corridor. The BRT system plans for buses to come every five minutes in each direction, making it an attractive public alternative to using automobiles, and increasing increas-ing the number of people who can be transported. Cities using bus rapid transit systems say it combines the best features of rail with the flexibility and cost advantages of using existing See BUS, Page 2 CONTROLLING TRAFFIC I lit 7 IM . " i i ii ii n ii ii i mi b i in ii biiih i. i .1. ii. i mini ii mi n i G -" ASHLEY rtANSCEttDlpflSm Monday night UDOT activated its new 1-15 ramp meters at six locations in Utah County. The meters control the amount of vehicles entering the freeway at peak travel times and only allow one car to enter at a time. UDOT activates 1-15 ramp meters a day early Michael Rigert NORTH COUNTY STAFF State transportation officials gave the green light to some new traffic signals on Interstate 15 in Utah County a little early this week, turning on the new system Monday instead of Tuesday. Scott Thompson, Utah Department of Transportation's Region 3 spokesman, said the department gave itself an extra day during the planning process to ensure there were no bugs in the system. The bugs were worked out ahead of schedule, so officials decided to turn on the system Monday with the start of the new work week. "I think they worked relatively well as they were supposed to today," he said. Thompson said instead of slowing things down, it's anticipated that the freeway on-ramp on-ramp meters will facilitate smoother merging merg-ing and fewer traffic snarls during peak travel times. "People won't be slowing down to let three to four cars in all at one time," he said. "Typically, "Typi-cally, the benefit is getting on the freeway with traffic in all three lanes." Essentially a traffic signal with red and green lights placed at the end of each on-ramp, on-ramp, the 17 ramp meters installed at seven interchanges between Orem and Lehi will control access to the freeway. A green light allows enough time for oije vehicle per lane to enter the freeway and will alternate between be-tween the two on-ramp lanes entering 1-15, he said. At a cost of $3 million, UDOT installed the ramp meters earlier this year on northbound and southbound on-ramps at interchanges at Main Street in Lehi, Pleasant Grove Boulevard, Bou-levard, 1600 North in Orem, 800 North in Orem and University Parkway in Orem. The freeway interchange at State Route 92 in Lehi currently has a southbound ramp meter only. "During the morning and afternoon corn-See corn-See RAMP, Page 2 New theater, retail center coming to University Mall Michael Rigert NORTH COUNTY STAFF The University Mall in Orem continues to remake itself with more commercial development coming starting this fall. Currently under construction at 1000 S. 750 East is the 47,000 square foot, 14 -screen Cinemark movie theater complex expected expect-ed to be finished in time to open for the Oct. 31 weekend, said James Meredith, Cinemark's vice president of marketing. Similar to Cinemark movie multiplexes at the Provo Towne Centre and The Meadows in American Fork, the new theater in Orem will feature stadium seaikig, an interior box office, a video game arcade, a private birthday room, and lounge seating seat-ing for 40-pIus moviegoers in the main lobby, he said. A new amenity currently found in Century theaters recently re-cently acquired by Cinemark incorporated into the design of the Orem theater is what Meredith Mer-edith calls a self -serve or cafeteria-style concessions layout In which patrons walk through a line, select various goodies and then pay a cashier at the end. "It's really a neat feature," he ir . , , i . MICHAEL RIGERTNorth County Construction work continues Tuesday on the new Cinemark theater multi-plex being built just east of University Mall at 1000 S. 750 East. Cinemark officials sav the 14-auditorium theater comnlex is See MALL, Page 2 slated to open on the weekend of Oct. 31. Community Briefing CEUA TOBINDaily Herald Madison Cobbley, 5, makes a face at her mother as she starts to roll into motion with Cadence Jepperson, 5, on a train ride during a fundraiser to raise money for Bridger Hunt Aug. 7 at Bonneville Park in Orem. OREM BOY WRAPPED IN TOILET PAPER, ACCIDENTALLY ACCI-DENTALLY SET ON FIRE -An Orem boy who was playing with friends was seriously burned Monday evening when they wrapped him in toilet paper and accidentally ac-cidentally set it on fire. Tyler Morgan, 11, was playing with a group of friends at a park near Geneva Elementary School at about 5 p.m. when they wrapped him in toilet paper like a mummy, mum-my, according to Orem Police Capt. Ned Jackson. The group, consisting of four to six boys aged B to 1 1, then put Morgan against a pole and wrapped more toilet paper pa-per around him, securing him to the pole. According to Jackson, the group then wrapped toilet paper around several other poles, creating a makeshift wrestling ring nearby. One member of the group then used a lighter to ignite a piece of toilet paper. The flames spread, igniting the toilet paper that formed the wrestling wres-tling ring. "When they saw how fast the toilet paper burned, they tried to put it out by stomping on it," Jackson said. While the kids were trying to put the flames out, Jackson Jack-son said some of the embers were either kicked or blew onto the toilet paper surrounding Morgan, which caused it to catch fire. The other boys contacted the police and Morgan's father, fa-ther, who took him to Orem Community Hospital a few blocks away. Jackson said the doctors there saw that his burns were severe and had him transported to the University Uni-versity of Utah Hospital at about 6 p.m. Morgan had burns on 20 percent of his body, mostly on his upper body, face, head and neck. Jackson said that most of the burns on his chest and arms were second-degree burns, while the burns on his face and neck were third-degree. Jackson said doctors inserted a tube in Morgan's windpipe, and the next 24 hours will be important in determining his condition. Hospital officials confirmed that his condition remained critical Tuesday night. The Orem police department has one investigator looking at the incident. Detectives are talking with the boys to determine whether there was any intent to harm Morgan. "At this point, we think it was an accident," Jackson said. "It was just boys playing that got out of hand. We don't anticipate any charges being filed." Morgan is also good friends with Bridger Hunt, who was injured in a homemade fireworks accident on Pioneer Pio-neer Day. Travis Shaw, Hunt's stepfather, said the boys go longboarding and to the mall together, and Morgan has slept over at Hunt's home. "I just saw him just on Thursday at the barbecue fundraiser," Shaw said. "He showed up to support Bridge." Hunt was back in surgery Tuesday night for an infection, infec-tion, and Shaw said he has only been conscious enough to blink or slightly grab his hand. Janice Peterson FRIENDS OF GIANT STEPS CHARITY AUCTION FOR OREM AUTISM PRESCHOOL - On Friday the First Annual Friends of GIANT Steps Charity Auction will be held to benefit the GIANT Steps Autism Preschool in Orem. The event will be located inside the Tahitian Noni Provo Building, 5151 N. 300 West, from 7 to 9 p.m. The host for the evening will be sportscaster Greg Wrubell. There will be both live and silent auctions going on as well as entertainment by local favorite Marvin Payne. All proceeds go directly to fund classroom supplies and equipment, field trips and in-class programs. Friends of GIANT Steps is a local non-profit group that supports GIANT Steps Autism Preschool in Orem. GIANT Steps has funding each year for 36 children on the Autistic Spectrum in Utah County ages 3-5. TIMPANOGOS STORYTELLING FESTIVAL YOUTH TELLERS TO PERFORM -The finalists of the youth teller auditions, held in early 2008, will perform their winning pieces at the Orem Public Library. From Aug. 19 through Aug. 21, 26 tellers will entertain in the Storytelling Storytell-ing Wing at 7 p.m. each night. Each youth performance will last between 5 and 15 minutes. Each of the three evenings' programs will last about an hour. These young tellers will perform again as opening acts for national storytellers during the three-day three-day Timpanogos Storytelling Festival on Aug. 28-30. For more information about those performances, visit www.timpfest.org. Ii lilt!!!! |