Old West/New West
I'm headed to Cedar City today to meet with City officials and Dept. of Transportation personnel to discuss the south interchange on I-15. It is an oddly-configured, undersized interchange that frustrates City officials. To me, the south interchange perfectly captures the collision of the Old West and the New West.
Livestock has always been important to Cedar City. Because it is desert country, the cattle and sheep need to be moved up Cedar Mountain in the summer to graze and, then, back down to the desert west of town in the fall before snow covers the mountain. Long ago, the stockmen acquired an easement -- far south of town -- to move the cattle and sheep. The problem is, with growth that location no longer is out of town. The stock comes off the mountain and runs into an interstate highway. Until recently, that was okay. They'd would go under the highway through a box culvert.
Now, though, a Wal-Mart has been built next to the highway. To keep the round up from marching through the Wal-Mart parking lot, a large tunnel was built under the parking lot, with grates every so often for ventilation. The cattlemen won't use the tunnel. They're rightly concerned the cattle might stampede and crush each other, especially the calves. So, instead of using the tunnel, the cattle stop traffic and move through the commercial development. The sheep, though, will use the tunnel. Someday, I plan to sit in that parking lot and watch the faces of hurried, unsuspecting people as they get out of their cars and hear hundreds of sheep bleating beneath them.
Livestock has always been important to Cedar City. Because it is desert country, the cattle and sheep need to be moved up Cedar Mountain in the summer to graze and, then, back down to the desert west of town in the fall before snow covers the mountain. Long ago, the stockmen acquired an easement -- far south of town -- to move the cattle and sheep. The problem is, with growth that location no longer is out of town. The stock comes off the mountain and runs into an interstate highway. Until recently, that was okay. They'd would go under the highway through a box culvert.
Now, though, a Wal-Mart has been built next to the highway. To keep the round up from marching through the Wal-Mart parking lot, a large tunnel was built under the parking lot, with grates every so often for ventilation. The cattlemen won't use the tunnel. They're rightly concerned the cattle might stampede and crush each other, especially the calves. So, instead of using the tunnel, the cattle stop traffic and move through the commercial development. The sheep, though, will use the tunnel. Someday, I plan to sit in that parking lot and watch the faces of hurried, unsuspecting people as they get out of their cars and hear hundreds of sheep bleating beneath them.
posted by steve u. at 12/02/2004
Subscribe
3 Comments:
Terrific post. Was anything concluded at the meeting that will alleviate this problem for either party?
Yes. Now, instead of kids selling kittens outside Wal-Mart, ranchers will sell cattle.
A fix for the livestock is in the works -- to cross them further south at a new culvert to be constructed under the freeway and, then, move them behind the development.
As for the crazy configuration (are you able to picture it in your mind?), UDOT is going to scrape together money to do a study on options, to see what kind of financial beast we'll be grappling with. The good news is that UDOT and Cedar City have held on to a lot of the land that will be needed for any type of fix; so, atleast land costs won't be huge.
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
<< Home