UDOT moving forward with safety project near Sardine Canyon in Cache County
Aug 15, 2025, 1:02 PM
FILE - The Wellsville Mountains in Cache County. (Ray Boren, Deseret News)
(Ray Boren, Deseret News)
WELLSVILLE, Cache County — The Utah Department of Transportation is moving forward with plans to make safety-related changes at a major intersection near the mouth of Sardine Canyon in Cache County.
UDOT is planning to create a restricted crossing U-turn at the intersection of U.S. 89/91 and Center Street (state Route 23) in Wellsville.
Currently, drivers can turn left from Center Street onto Highway 91 or go straight across the highway, but they have to judge traffic across several lanes before making a decision.
UDOT Spokesperson Mitch Shaw told KSL NewsRadio the department believes the current setup has contributed to a number of crashes at or near this location over the last several years.
From the beginning of 2019 to the end of 2023, Shaw said there were 52 crashes at or near this intersection. Four of those crashes were sideswipes or head-on crashes. One crash was fatal. And there was another fatal crash near this spot in 2018 as well.
“This is a lot of crashes for a five-year period,” Shaw said.
Shaw said the new project will require drivers wanting to go left or straight from Center Street to turn right and make a U-turn at a designated location a little bit down Highway 89. Then they can proceed straight or turn right back onto Center Street instead of moving across several lanes of traffic. That includes some lanes where traffic is driving at freeway speed.
“The situation isn’t going to get better. We can’t just sit and let it remain the way it is, so that’s why we’re doing this,” Shaw said.
Shaw said some people living in the area had concerns with the project and voiced their desire for the department to instead build a freeway-style interchange to solve the problem.
Shaw said, though, the population and traffic volume in the area don’t justify the price tag, which would likely be $100 million or more. That’s why they are instead moving forward with the restricted crossing U-turn, which is only expected to cost $6.3 million.
Shaw said they predict this design will be viable until the year 2050. And he said if growth and traffic volume justify the cost, a freeway-style interchange could be a possibility for the area at a later time.
Construction is expected to begin in spring 2026 and then wrap up by winter the same year.
