Drivers crossing U.S. 89/91 at Center Street in Wellsville can no longer cut straight across all five lanes to turn left. Instead, the Utah Department of Transportation has built a Restricted Crossing U-Turn, or RCUT, that forces side-street traffic to turn right onto the highway first, drive to a designated U-turn point, then double back in the direction they actually wanted to go.
A New Way Through an Old Trouble Spot
The RCUT at the intersection, located at State Route 23 and U.S. Highway 89/91 near Sardine Canyon, was completed on September 22, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Instead of crossing or merging across as many as five lanes at once, drivers turning from Center Street now make a right turn and a U-turn at a marked location — a redesign UDOT says never requires crossing more than two lanes at a time. The agency has described the project as a way to simplify navigation at a crossing that had become a known trouble spot.
UDOT data cited by the Tribune found 51 crashes within a half-mile of the intersection between 2019 and 2023, including nine at the crossing itself and one fatality. A fatal multi-vehicle crash was reported near the intersection. The crashes point to a pattern of serious wrecks that pushed UDOT toward redesigning the crossing.
Right Turn, Not Straight Across
UDOT spokesperson Mitch Shaw told the Tribune the RCUT can help eliminate dangerous T-bone crashes and should ultimately let drivers cross and turn left faster than they could under the old configuration. He also acknowledged the limits of engineering alone, saying UDOT has limited control over how drivers actually behave on the road, and that waiting at a stop sign can impair decision-making and lead to worse choices behind the wheel.
The Federal Highway Administration has studied the RCUT design elsewhere and found it can reduce injury- or fatality-causing crashes by more than 50%, according to the agency. Separate FHWA research on RCUT conversions found reductions of 27 to 74% in total crashes at rural North Carolina sites, depending on the analysis method, and found substantial decreases in fatal-and-injury, angle and left-turn crashes.
Designed for Tractors, Trucks and Growth
UDOT designed the RCUT to accommodate farm equipment and trucks pulling trailers, and the agency also plans a pedestrian underpass at the intersection. Shaw said transportation planning typically uses a 25- to 30-year service horizon, but UDOT estimates this RCUT will be in place until about 2050. He put the project's price tag at $6.3 million, compared with what he said a full interchange would typically cost — at least $100 million — and noted the RCUT also carries less environmental impact than a full interchange would.
Not everyone in town is sold. Wellsville Mayor Chad Lindley favored a vehicle overpass or underpass structure instead, telling the Tribune he believes a full car overpass is the best long-term solution. He said the state considered a full overpass impractical after running the cost numbers, and he worries the RCUT may only be a short-term fix as Wellsville keeps growing. Lindley estimated a long-term structure like an overpass could last about 50 years, and he said he's concerned some drivers may start avoiding the intersection altogether in favor of other rural Wellsville roads. He also said farmers he knows won't use the new U-turn setup, since farm equipment moves much slower than passenger vehicles. The town itself, however, has taken no official stance on the UDOT project.
A Crash After the Redesign
Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Zach Randall confirmed a collision at the intersection on September 23, the day after the RCUT was completed. The crash involved a car turning from U.S. 89/91 onto Wellsville Center Street; the driver entered the median too soon, drove over a raised concrete island and struck a traffic sign. The Utah crash data portal indicated it was a single-vehicle crash with no injuries, and the collision report listed disregarded roadway markings as the contributing circumstance. Randall attributed the crash to the driver ignoring those markings rather than to any flaw in the new road configuration.
UDOT is weighing RCUTs at other Utah locations beyond Wellsville.
