MANTI, Utah- Wednesday evening, Manti residents opined on a proposed roundabout for the Manti Temple at the Eva Beal Auditorium at Manti City Hall.

Manti Mayor Kory Soper welcomed everyone before turning the time over to UDOT personnel on-hand.

They included Robert Dowell, UDOT Region Four Traffic Operations Engineer and Sam Grimshaw, the UDOT project manager.

Because the west entrance to the Manti Temple via US Highway 89 is considered hazardous by state authorities, it will be razed in coming years.

This, Dowell said, will result in 800 North, near Manti’s new baseball fields, being the only accessible way to the temple via US 89.

In anticipation of increasing traffic, Dowell and Grimshaw spoke of how a roundabout is being considered.

They spoke to the audience concerning a roundabout that has been constructed in Enoch along SR 130 in Iron County earlier this year.

Reportedly, per Dowell and Grimshaw, this roundabout was well-received by Enoch residents.

Dowell said UDOT prefers a roundabout to “arbitrarily” slowing the speed via a speed limit change as a roundabout will force drivers to slow down.

Grimshaw said a roundabout consists of an 105-foot radius.

Grimshaw said the “worst-case scenario” for length of the project is 5 months.

Some residents, upon asking questions, hoped instead for a traffic light in the area in question.

However, Manti City councilwoman Mary Wintch said traffic lights are only constructed if this should be warranted by the volume of traffic in a particular area.

Soper confirmed that while plans have been discussed on the matter, no project to fulfill them exists at this time.