SANDY, Utah -- The 106th South interchange of I-15 could soon see some changes that should relieve the near constant road congestion in the area.
Utah Department of Transportation officials propose building a northbound tunnel under 106th South that would take drivers in front of the South Towne Mall and would open another thoroughfare toward 90th South.
"Lots of businesses are re-located to this area because of the proximity to I-15," UDOT Spokesman Adan Carillo said. "We just want to make sure we continue to provide a safe environment to make their maneuvers as they exit the freeway and for people to come in and out to shopping and restaurant opportunities, the possibilities are endless."
Businesses on the north end of Sandy are expected to benefit, but those along 10600 South worry the new interchange will take drivers straight past their stores.
Hut No. 8 Clothing Exchange says most of their customers find their store simply from driving by.
"I feel like for our store that would definitely be bad," manager Kylee Waibel said. "Because we will be missing out on the customers driving by the store, they'll keep going straight to the mall."
Public comment is still open, and will be until June 16.
After the comment period is over, UDOT will have to do an environmental impact study of the area and fine tune its design before starting construction.
"There are a lot of intricacies that are part of this project and building a tunnel under 106th South on I-15 is not an easy task, there's a lot of study going on," Carillo said.
Construction is scheduled to start in March of 2015 and finish up by October of that year.
