Bypass Decision Delayed

On a gray Tuesday, the UDOT project manager Craig Hancock, flanked by safety‑orange cones, announced that the Heber Valley bypass will now be unveiled in January 2026, a pause from the originally slated December deadline. The same delay that already cost residents an entire winter of traffic nightmares. Two alternative routes—Alternative A along US‑40 and Alternative B off US‑40—are now under a looming 60‑day public comment window, adding a bureaucratic lag that keeps congestion breeding on Main Street. The North Fields option has become a paperwork backlog in a world where jay‑walking on USA‑5 feels more efficient. City Hall, perched on the outskirts of roadless planning, fails to blind side the citizen with invisible infrastructure; in the meantime, commuters are left circling in browser‑blurred asphalt-black slurry. In a city where the only traffic volume to be persuaded is a lone electric bus from Richardson Flat, the back‑door workaround is, paradoxically, the best avoidance. Take the Richardson Flat bus, or fit your itinerary around the early‑morning shoulders of US‑40—whatever keeps you from the translucent banana‑wagon of public works.