Woodbury approves County Road 19 project

• Woodbury Drive

Submitted graphic

Talk about it

In one of a number of meetings that have been held to discuss the Woodbury Drive project, Woodbury City Council passed a resolution to order the project.

Also known as County Road 19, the $14 million project is a collaboration between the city and Washington County.

The Wednesday, Aug. 8, vote was one of the steps in the process that started last year with local government as well as public discussions regarding reconstruction of the aging road.

One of the discussion items that came up was access to Woodbury Properties LLC located near the northwest corner of Woodbury Drive and Lake Road.

Kelly Monkman said with a median built as part of the project, there will be cut-through traffic where the commercial property is located at Wedgewood Crossing.

Instead of going through the roundabout – proposed for the Lake Road intersection – drivers will likely cut through the development, he said.

“A lot of people don’t like using roundabouts,” he added.

Public Works Director David Jessup said there is nothing in the new design that could stop cut-through traffic.

Since it’s a private road, however, Woodbury Properties would need to install its own traffic calming measures, he added.

Jessup said the design calls for right in, right out turns with a median due to the anticipated traffic volumes and as a way to avoid backups to the roundabouts.

Traffic can’t be backed up to the roundabout at various access points, he said, which is why a median is proposed.

Mayor Mary Giuliani Stephens said cut-through traffic is something the city could monitor, but added that traffic usually moves through roundabouts more freely, which would eliminate the need to go through private roads.

The public hearing also included discussion regarding assessments.

The city’s portion of the project is estimated at $3.5 million, with about $243,000 coming from assessments on benefiting properties. The rest will come from city funds.

Properties include two churches to the south, a Qwest building, Prestwick Golf Club and Eagle Valley Golf Course.

Since the Eagle Valley course is a city-owned entity, its assessments will be paid for internally from city funds.

An assessment hearing will be held separately next year once numbers are close to being finalized, Jessup said.

Construction is slated to begin the summer of 2013 and completed for the season by November. The final phases of the project will be done in 2014.

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