Logan approves 400 north corridor plan

By Mark Rosa

On Oct. 20 the Logan City Municipal Council approved the 400 North corridor plan, a long-term design and development concept plan to re-tool and beautify the stretch of 400 North from the mouth of Logan canyon to 100 West. According to Mike DeSimone, Director of Community Development for Logan, we may see the construction of some low-cost, low-impact improvement projects including updating light fixtures and median construction, begin over the next year.

DeSimone said the plan’s main goal is to create a visual focal point between Utah State University and greater Logan by replicating the streetscape design of the downtown area along the corridor. The plan also aims to improve the corridor’s function as a residential street and a high-volume transportation conduit with sidewalk improvement and road enhancing projects.

“I hope that it has a significant impact visually on that corridor and on the folks that live there,” DeSimone said. “It’s kind of a quaint little street, but the reality is that it’s a major state highway, it connects the Wasatch front with Idaho and Wyoming.”

DeSimone said that although 400 North is a residential street, it is managed by the Utah Department of Transportation whose goals sometimes overshadow the concerns of area residents on safety and visual aesthetics.

“Their goal is to move traffic, they want to move people as efficiently and quickly as possible, which is not a bad thing but if you live there it’s not necessarily the greatest thing,” said DeSimone.

“We want to recognize that it’s a state highway,” Desimone said. “But what we can do is slow the traffic down a little bit.”

Logan Municipal Councilwoman Jeannie Simmonds, who served on the steering commission that guided the project, expects that implementation of the plan will improve drive aspects while having a traffic culling but not eliminating effect, which will improve the safety of the corridor.

“It will become more of a gateway because we have a lot of traffic that flows in both of those directions,” Simmonds said. “Traffic flow will be improved.”