City and SSPD urge caution during construction

The Soda Springs Police Department was dispatched to the intersection of 2nd South and 2nd West, for a truck that had driven into the trench on the afternoon of May  14th.  According to Chief of Police Cejay Golightly, “after pulling out of Bomgaar's, the driver was confused by the orange cones and proceeded eastbound on the construction side of the cones until the vehicle ran into the open trench.  There were construction workers in the adjacent trench, and heavy machinery was in use.  We are thankful that no one was injured in this accident.  We encourage all to use extra precautions and slower speeds while traveling through the construction zones in Soda Springs this year.  This highway project is scheduled to go into late October.”

Construction on Highway 30, which began toward the end of April, will be an ongoing fact of life for travelers through Soda Springs over the summer months, and because the specific location of the construction will shift over the course of that time, it is especially important to be attentive while driving at all times, not only because you may be unfamiliar with the diversion patterns on any given day, but so might other drivers on the road.

In addition to the potential for drivers to injure their vehicles through inattentive collision with construction barriers or equipment, there are also contractors and ITD workers on the roadways, often without a lot of space between themselves and drivers.  It should go without saying, but it doesn’t hurt to repeat the truism that there is nowhere you might be driving that is more important than someone’s life or well-being.  As Chief Golightly stated, slowing down and being situationally aware are the best ways to avoid creating unnecessary negative outcomes in a shared roadway that will be more cramped and confusing than usual for the next few months.

For updates on what to expect about the traffic and construction patterns from week to week, the City of Soda Springs has been posting update videos to its Youtube and web pages, and we have been running the text of those videos as they are made available here in the paper.