Eureka council outlines areas for transportation master plan, considers trails and bike routes

EUREKA, Utah — City staff and the Eureka City Council discussed mapping potential future growth areas and high-level road and trail concepts on May 27 as part of an on-going transportation master plan process.

Dan, a Jones & DeMille engineering consultant who presented the examples, said the study for neighboring Mona was used as a template and showed both existing collectors and conceptual future links. "So this is the Mona study... the 1 on the left is kind of the current road layouts for Mona," Dan said during the presentation.

The council identified several areas to include in Eureka's planning maps: a triangular area south of town and a narrow sliver through adjacent property; land behind the high school on the northeast end of town; land near the bottom of Knightsville where a proposed subdivision has recently been discussed; and city-owned property near the water tank above town. Several council members flagged multiple parcels that are currently landlocked or have limited roadway access and asked the consultant to show potential collector and local-road connections that would reduce future mobilization costs for construction.

Council members also discussed Hall Road — a dirt road on the southern edge of town — and nearby T Street and Chief Street, which currently dead-end and could be connected to improve access. Councilman Travis Haynes noted that some of those parcels are constrained by floodplain or environmental covenants but said portions remain developable. "When you think about T Street and Chief Street and all those that kinda just go up in dead end, they could all connect to that Hall Road," Haynes said.

Dan told the council the master plan is intended to be high-level guidance, not fixed engineering lines: the maps show likely locations for major collectors, minor collectors and local roads so the city and future developers have a framework to follow if land is annexed or subdivided. He estimated the full study timeline at about nine months to complete traffic counts, pavement-preservation analysis and plan drafting.

Active transportation and trails were discussed as a companion plan. Dan said adding proposed trails and bike routes to the master plan increases the city's odds of obtaining future recreation grants and gives the city leverage to require developers to construct trail easements shown on the plan. "If we show a trail entering one side of a property and exiting another side... during the development process, we can kinda work with the developer to how that gets internally routed to make that connection," Dan said.

Council members referenced recent county-level interest in mountain-bike facilities and urged the consultant to consider routes that would connect recreation assets and school facilities. One council member relayed a county staff contact who said state high schools are adopting mountain-bike teams and recommended looking at Hall Road as a possible trail corridor.

The council asked staff and the consultant to include the identified areas in the Eureka map set for the transportation master plan and to return with more detailed mapping at a follow-up work session.

Ending — Next steps: Staff will incorporate the council’s identified growth areas and conceptual trails into the draft transportation and active-transportation maps; the consultant expects to complete the study in about nine months, after conducting traffic counts and pavement analysis.