A truck turns onto U.S 89-91 from the Pisgah Stone Products mine near the summit of Sardine Canyon last week.

A truck turns onto U.S 89-91 from the Pisgah Stone Products mine near the summit of Sardine Canyon last week.

Around 200 semi trucks — many of them double loads — exit the Pisgah Stone Products mine near the Sardine Canyon summit each day, slowly entering U.S. Highway 89-91 before eventually matching the speed of vehicles traveling between Cache Valley and the Brigham City.

Mike Schugg, the mine’s managing partner, refused to discuss the truck traffic when contacted recently by The Herald Journal, nor would he comment on a state legislator’s failed attempt last winter to get funding for a highway interchange at the mine turnoff.

After the funding fell through, the Utah Department of Transportation has discussed possibly dipping into its safety budget to widen the highway at Mt. Pisgua Road for new turning and merging lanes. Installation of flashing signs before the turnoff to alert motorists about vehicles entering the highway are also being considered, but no final decision on either safety measure has been announced.

Two impending developments could raise risk levels along the scenic roadway already known for hazardous driving conditions.

First, the mine has reportedly installed new equipment that could double its production and thereby increase truck traffic. Second, a plan by UDOT to extend a center barrier through the entire canyon could block or impede left turns in and out of the mine, forcing trucks to travel north to Wellsville or south to Mantua to perform turnarounds.

Both of these factors were cited by Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, in a legislative committee hearing in February, where Sandall appeared along with an attorney for Mt. Pisgah Stone Products to pitch the $26 million highway underpass and interchange to more safely route the trucks entering and leaving the mine.

Calling the traffic situation “quite a safety concern,” Sandall proposed a state expenditure for half the underpass on the condition the mining company pay the other half. In the end, neither the Legislature nor the company was willing to commit money to the project.

During the hearing, company attorney Ryan Peterson acknowledged the safety issues but told the committee the mine will continue to operate whether the highway is modified or not.

“There have been questions to us of ‘Why should the state participate in private business?’ ‘Why should they care?’ We just want to remind the committee that the mine can continue to function and do business as usual. Even with the barrier put in, they can continue to mine and run trucks,” Peterson said.

He added, “There is definitely a safety concern. There is a concern about 200 massive side-dumper trucks turning around in small communities like Wellsville and Mantua. They (the mine owners) obviously don’t want to impact those communities that way.”

Contacted Wednesday, Sandall said the turnaround scenarios posed by the attorney are unlikely under UDOT’s widening concept, which would leave a gap in the road barrier at the mine turnoff.

“My understanding in visiting with UDOT is that their intention would not be to put the barrier across there and make that have to be the way,” Sandall said. “They’re looking for a solution that is a little wider road right there where southbound trucks can get into a lane and then wait safely on the left side before turning across the oncoming traffic from the northbound side.”

The configuration would also provide an acceleration lane for trucks exiting the mine going south.

“It’s the crossing traffic that’s the main problem,” Sandall said, noting that lines of sight are limited at the turnout.

UDOT spokesman Mitch Shaw was not aware of the widening discussions when contacted by The Herald Journal last week, but he did say warning signs have been discussed as an “interim” measure.

The Pisgah mine extracts a variety of limestone aggregate and landscaping boulders from its operation just east of the state road maintenance shed at the Sardine Canyon Summit. Though not visible from U.S. 89-91 in the canyon, the quarry can be seen from the floor of Cache Valley looking north of Mt. Pisgah, identifiable by its landmark tower.

A recent letter to the editor in The Herald Journal decried the scarring of the land and general disruption created by Pisgah Stone Products.

“The amount of activity, trucks, loaders, etc. was appalling even to someone who is used to seeing Kennecott Copper mine on a daily basis from the other side of the Salt Lake Valley and the stone pits at the Point of the Mountain,” wrote the letter’s author, a Cache Valley native who now lives in Sandy. She said she drove up to the quarry site during a recent return visit after noticing a building in the distance and turning on Mt. Pisgah Road to explore.

Asked if he’d seen the letter, mine owner Schugg said he had not, but he defended the quarry operation as a legal and legitimate use of the land.

“We own it, we don’t lease it, so that would be like me criticizing that person for what they’re doing on their property,” Schugg said.

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