FARMINGTON -- After receiving complaints from several Farmington parents, city officials have been taking strides to make the Shepard Lane bridge across I-15 safer for the benefit of children who may be crossing the overpass. "I had been approached by a local mom about a month ago who asked the city to look into the safety of the bridge, and I brought it up to the council as a miscellaneous item," said city council member Rick Dutson."City Manager Max Forbush talked with UDOT about it, but they pushed it back to us and said it was our bridge in our city, and that therefore we needed to do something about it because it was our problem. We need to figure out what to do with it now, and it's a problem for both traffic and pedestrians."

As of now the bridge has narrow lanes, no shoulder and a low guard rail, making it a safety hazard for children who may be crossing the bridge. Dutson said many local kids constantly go over the bridge now, either while riding their bikes or walking.

"I'm sure the bridge wasn't built for foot traffic, but that's what it's used a lot for now and parents are worried because of it," he said. "My wife even said it scared her just walking over it, and to make things even more unsafe, some of the cars driving under it are going much faster than they should. The bridge also has a curve in it that can cause the sun to be right in someone's face as they go over the bridge, so it plays on someone's visibility as well."

Some of the proposed solutions from city officials include not allowing foot traffic on the bridge or putting up a foot bridge for the safety of pedestrians.

"It seems to me that we should put up a pedestrian walkway connected to the bridge, and even though it probably won't be cheap, we have to think to ourselves; 'What's another life worth?'" Dutson said. "We could also get some signage on the road below saying something like '25 mph, caution ahead, pedestrian crossing' or something like that."

Dutson said he has spoken about the bridge with Sen. Greg Bell, who will meet with representatives from UDOT to discuss its safety issues and how to find the budget to fix it.

"Senator Bell will be meeting with UDOT on this, possibly this week, and I'll continue to be on it as well," he said. "We also need to get definite movement from UDOT because this is a real safety hazard that we need to get a move on and see how we can get fixed. We cant ping-pong back and forth on this because it's an accident waiting to happen, whether someone gets in a fender bender or is dying because of it, and everyone on the board agrees that we can't let this sit for a long time."

dradunich@davisclipper.com