FILE -- Construction crews work along I-15 in Lehi on Thursday, July 16, 2020. Steve Griffin, Deseret News
TECHNOLOGY CORRIDOR, Utah County — Every portion of I-15 between Salt Lake and Utah county has been rebuilt except for the 5-mile stretch known as the Technology Corridor in Utah County. More than 200,000 cars pass through that area in Utah County every day and UDOT says the construction is expected to finish within the next month.
As part of the final touches to the $415 million projects which began in January 2018, UDOT will shut down the left lane of NB I-15 between Main St. in Lehi and SR-92 until Monday.
“It’s pretty exciting,” UDOT spokesman John Gleason said.
“We’ve been out here for three construction seasons, and across the state, this has been probably the most anticipated project.”
Gleason says the plan is to expand the four lanes in the current area to six lanes in both directions which should help the traffic bottleneck that comes in the area during commuting times. In addition to widening the road, Gleason says there were also other improvements made.
“We also put in frontage roads and more connections for people in Lehi to get onto the freeway and allow for better traffic flow around the city of Lehi as well.”
Thre are also several improvements and added ramps to the Technology Corridor. — a new bridge over I-15 at Triumph Blvd which includes new trails for cyclists and pedestrians. And a new exit ramp from southbound I-15 at milepost 283 with an entrance ramp from Triumph Blvd to go north on I-15.
Lehi has been one of the fastest-growing communities in Utah and UDOT hopes the changes will have lasting benefits in the area.
The lane closures through the rest of the week will be in place to let crews remove old asphalt and allow time for the new concrete they’re pouring to cure. Commuters should expect congestion and delays, especially during peak drive times. The slightly good news is with no one allowed to attend the BYU football game this Saturday, there won’t be added delays coming home from the event.
Project manager Andrew Gwynn who’s been working on the technology corridor since the last major aspect of the project is to stripe the lanes.
“The biggest thing is just starting to move traffic lanes into their final locations and get that final striping down,” he said.
UDOT expects major construction to be done by the end of the month and full removal of the orange cones by Thanksgiving after work on barriers and bridges finishes.
Drivers should stay alert and pay attention to changing road configurations. Information on these changes can be found at http://udot.utah.gov/techcorridor.