Several homeowners are worried they could lose their homes under a proposed highway expansion.
The Utah Department of Transportation is in the early stages of studying expanding I-15 between Salt Lake City and Farmington.
There was a community requested hearing on the issue Tuesday night with representatives from UDOT there answering questions from concerned homeowners and business owners.
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Bill Coker's home is essentially right up against the west side of I-15 in Salt Lake City.
“We like this kind of neighborhood, we like the ethnicity of it, we like the can-do attitude of it,” Coker said.
Coker's home was originally built in the 1890s, but he bought it in 2006 and extensively remodeled it.
“I really wanted to live in an 1890 house, so I'm going to do what it takes to get it done, and it was a year and a half, so there's a lot of blood, sweat and tears in this house,” Coker said.
Coker just recently found out that for the last year, UDOT has been putting together the early stages of a study to possibly widen I-15 from Farmington to Salt Lake City, and a part of the expansion could go right through bills home — meaning he could lose it.
“That's the problem, is we are still catching up and trying to decide if there is anything we can do,” Coker said.
UDOT has come up with two alternative options for expanding I-15 in this area, each options would include 5 lanes in each direction and an express lane.
During Tuesday’s listening session, UDOT employees told the crowd it's not yet known which areas could be impacted because it's too early in the process.
Because a project like this is so big and they don't come around often, UDOT must look for ways to improve mobility while planning for what population and traffic patterns could look like in 25 years.
As for Coker, he doesn't want to stand in the way of progress — he just doesn't want to lose his home, adding, “we have what we're doing, we have what we're doing every day and that's it.”
UDOT will take all the public comment and then start incorporating all that feedback into the engineering planning as the next phase of the EIS process.
About a year from now is when UDOT is expected to complete the study phase and make a recommendation.
More information on the proposed project can be found on UDOT's website.