Lehi • The Utah Department of Transportation is delivering a Halloween treat for commuters who battle scary congestion in the rapidly growing Silicon Slopes area.
On Thursday morning, a new bridge will open over Interstate 15 on Triumph Boulevard, the first major milestone of the $430 million I-15 Technology Corridor Project. Other features of the project include widening the freeway from four to six lanes, adding frontage roads, replacing 50-year-old deteriorating pavement and rebuilding bridges and major interchanges.
“It has a been a Herculean effort by crews to get this bridge started and completed in just six months,” said UDOT spokesman John Gleason, as crews showed off the new facility to the news media on Wednesday.
It provides another east-west connection over the freeway between parts of Lehi’s Silicon Slopes. Current I-15 interchanges at the Timpanogos Highway and 2100 North are often jammed in part because of east-west traffic trying to flow through them.
“The amount of growth and development in Lehi has been really remarkable. If you look at where Lehi was 10 years ago to where we are now, it’s unrecognizable,” Gleason said. “It’s a great thing for Utah’s economy. But it means more traffic on our roads, and we need to address it.”
The new bridge will open with one lane in each direction, plus a turning lane. Eventually, it will have five lanes plus sidewalks, said Boyd Humphreys, UDOT’s construction manager for the project.
“We never had to close the freeway down” for construction of the new bridge, Humphreys said. “That was impressive. We were able to shift traffic on the freeway, and we had some lane closures at night.”
The overall Technology Corridor project is scheduled for completion in fall 2020. “As the project continues, we’ll be adding components” to help reduce congestion, Humphreys said.
Gleason warns drivers that the project will continue to shift lanes in various traffic patterns in coming weeks. “So be aware. Be alert,” he said.
