(Credit: Paul Nelson)
LEHI – An extremely busy road in Utah County is getting shut down for construction this weekend, and drivers in northern Utah County aren’t going to be happy.
“It’s a pain in the neck. I don’t understand it.”
That’s how many drivers feel going through the Timpanogos Highway under I-15. Starting Saturday night, that interchange will be closed while crews create a new southbound off-ramp near Thanksgiving Point and they install a new free-flowing U-turn lane on Triumph Boulevard.
One driver tells KSL he uses that road twice a day, and will have to find a way around the closure this weekend.
He says, “I’m just going to have to get off clear down at 14600 South and take the frontage road.”
People who work near the area say people who aren’t used to the construction are frequently confused by the orange barrels.
“They’ll be really irked and they’ll ask us if there’s a way around this mess,” one woman says, adding, “Last weekend, or two weekends ago, they closed the exit for 2100 North. It caused so much traffic on State Street because it backs everybody up.”
Crews will also be making big changes to how cars go through that interchange. Currently, drivers go through a “divergent diamond” configuration, where they’re moved to the left side of the road to hop on I-15. However, UDOT Project Manager Boyd Humpherys says things will be different Monday morning, when the road reopens.
“We’re going to convert it into more of a traditional interchange,” he says.
Crews are telling southbound drivers trying to get to American Fork Canyon or the Traverse Mountain Outlets to use 2100 North. Northbound drivers can use 2100 North or 14600 South. Anyone who wants to travel east and west can use Triumph Boulevard.