EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah — More than one year ago, two Eagle Mountain homes were damaged after a car drove off the road into their neighborhood.
It happened just off of Pony Express Parkway, and since that incident, neighbors have been waiting for a change to prevent further incidents.
Pony Express Parkway can be a busy road, especially during rush hour.
“So you’re looking at 4 p.m. and kids are walking and you have all these people coming home from work, not paying attention,” said one neighbor, Justin Higgins.
Neighbors like Higgins picked this neighborhood years ago, but the city has grown tremendously since he first moved in. Because of that, he said this area has welcomed more traffic and, unfortunately, more traffic incidents.
“Countless times there’s been incidents,” Higgins said. "But actual accidents where the signs thrown up and into the yard, the grassy area, I mean were looking at four in eight years. That’s one every other year.”
Other parents in the community have the same concern, that another crash could happen at any moment.
“You feel unsafe sometimes when your kids want to play outside and they can’t just ride their bikes up and down because we’re too afraid to have them go by the busy street and get hit by a car,” neighbor Shana Hansen said.
Over the past year, neighbors have been looking to the city for a solution.
“Whether this was a cul-de-sac or they put guard rails up, or anything that could help us feel a little safer in our home and our neighborhood,” Hansen said.
Now, city officials said a solution should be here by the end of March or early April.
“The guardrails have been ordered,” said Kyle Ireland, the communications manager for Eagle Mountain City. "We did a study that was comparing a typical guardrail verse a cable, and we found the safest solution for that sidewalk area that’s right next to Pony Express Parkway. Those products have been ordered and will hopefully be installed within the next three or four weeks.”
Ireland said they conducted a traffic engineering study after the crash one year ago, but the process after wasn’t simple.
“There was a water line that needed to be moved and also a couple fiber lines, so after those two projects were done and able to take place, we’re able to get to the point now where we are able to install that guardrail,” Ireland said.
He said the guardrails were just approved in their budget a few weeks ago, and once installed, they will run from Bald Eagle Way to Red Pine Road.
“It’s been scary at times,” Higgins said. "It’s been nerve-racking because my kids go out there all the time. We want seriousness all the time and we want the city and we want these elected officials to go to bat for us and say, 'We do care. We’re going to put it in the budget and we’re going to do something about it.'"
After a year of waiting, neighbors are eager to see this vision finally come to fruition.
DRIVEN TO CHANGE
