Lehi City News
Student struck by car; Lehi residents rally for SR-92 pedestrian walkway
UDOT aware of the problem
Nichole Coombs | Lehi Free Press
It’s been three weeks since a 15-year-old Skyridge student was hit while crossing SR-92 and Center Street in Lehi. The teen, whose name has not been released, is healing from a fractured wrist, but his accident has brought attention to something neighbors say they’ve seen coming.
“He was in the crosswalk on his e-bike,” said Tiffany Barker, a Lehi resident who lives near the intersection. “He was doing everything right, and a big truck turning right didn’t see him start to cross and hit him. I was the third person on the scene, and the boy was rolling around on the ground saying he was in pain. We kept him still until paramedics arrived.”
This intersection is frequented by students coming and going from Skyridge High School and Viewpoint Middle School. Residents say ninth graders going to the high school for some special classes have to cross this intersection during the day.
“We really need a walking bridge,” said Barker. “Students are coming back and forth, people coming to the businesses, and there are walking paths on both sides. There’s a lot of foot traffic.”
The intersection has been on Lehi City Council members’ minds for some time.
“I’ve been worried about it for a long time,” said council member Rachel Freeman. “I don’t want any family in our community to have to deal with a tragedy. I go into that intersection daily, if not multiple times a day, and feel like there are some blind spots. I think a pedestrian bridge would help.”
SR-92 is not a Lehi City road, but that doesn’t mean the city isn’t working to get a bridge.
“Lehi City has been working on a design and working on securing funds for a bridge for some time because our engineers anticipated this intersection would be busy,” said Freeman. “Lehi has been able to secure about half the funding for the bridge so far, but we are still waiting, hopefully, for the other half of the funding to come from UDOT.”
The Utah Department of Transportation, or UDOT, is aware of the safety concerns over this intersection.
“This is a priority for Lehi,” said John Gleason, UDOT’s director of public relations. “We are working to come up with solutions. School boundaries have recently changed in the area, and so we are working to make it safe for everyone, so we don’t have situations like the one that recently happened.”
UDOT doesn’t have an exact timeline for a pedestrian bridge in the area.
“We are aware of the funding that Lehi has secured,” said Boyde Humpherys, region three deputy director for UDOT. “We are working as fast as we can through the process for everyone.”
UDOT uses data from multiple sources, including local committees, to create a prioritization list. Currently, a pedestrian bridge across SR-92 ranks among the top three.
“It’s about an $8-9 million project,” said Humpherys.
Council member Michelle Stallings says the pedestrian bridge is a high priority and there are a couple of ways Lehi City can help.
“It could be a partnership,” said Stallings. “We have another pedestrian bridge further west, and it was a partnership between Lehi, UDOT and UTA. Federal grants were used for that one, so the funding was different, but it could be a joint project.”
Several petitions have been circulated locally to bring attention to the problem.
For Barker and her neighbors, time is of the essence.
“We really need this bridge now. We can’t wait for another kid to get injured before it becomes a priority.”
