Work on $2.74 Billion in Utah Road Projects is Underway (or About to Be), So Start Gritting Your Teeth Now

I knew I was in trouble within moments of pulling onto the onramp at 11400 South and Bangerter Highway this past Saturday morning as I saw the temporary traffic sign flashing these two messages:

SB BNGRT CLOSED

USE DETOURS OR ALT

"Dang it," I thought, as at that instance I remembered seeing advance notifications on similar traffic signs in the preceding weeks courtesy of the Utah Department of Transportation.

Unfortunately, I'd simply forgotten.

Well, in case you don't know, major road work is now underway on federal, state, county and local highways, freeways, bridges, and more all across the state of Utah.

In fact, according to UDOT's announcement this past Friday, $2.74 billion in construction work is in progress (or is about to start) throughout the State of Deseret, making getting from Points A to Points B difficult at best this road-working season.

A High-Level Outline of the Major UDOT Projects During the 2024 Construction Season (aka, Where's the Money Going?)

As noted in the UDOT announcement, "Planned improvements range from

• "Repaving rural highways to building freeway-style interchanges,
• "Widening, repaving, demolishing and building bridges ...
• "(Creating) several new trails ...
• "Improved pedestrian access and safety improvements."

Additionally,

"... These projects will require lane closures, detours, and new traffic patterns while under construction."

Lisa Wilson, UDOT deputy director of engineering and operations, described the scope of its construction projects this way:

“This includes building new projects to help meet growth demands, maintaining our aging roads and bridges, and building out our transportation network to accommodate drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists.”

Shown below, ranked in order from most to least amount of monies expected to be spent per project, is the list of the most prominent UDOT projects for the 2024 road construction season.

{NOTE: Where available, projects shown below are hot-linked to separate webpages that provide additional details on a per project basis.}

• $466 Million: Mountain View Corridor (Salt Lake and Utah Counties). Construction is underway, with completion slated for early 2026.

The following short video from UDOT provides a great overview of the near-term plans for transforming Mountain View Corridor into a 35-mile thruway connecting Interstate-80 in Salt Lake County with I-15 in Utah County.

• $415 Million: Bangerter Highway (Salt Lake County). Construction is underway on stoplight-free interchanges at 4700 South, 9800 South, 13400 South, and 2700 West (on the southern-most section of Bangerter Hwy. as it bends eastward to connect with I-15). Completion is targeted by the end of 2025.

The following short video from UDOT provides a great overview on the construction work currently in process designed to replace four stoplight-encumbered interchanges on Bangerter Hwy. with underpasses or overpasses.

• $361 Million: 5600 South / Interstate-15 Interchange (Roy City in Weber County). Construction is significantly underway on what is considered a crucial interchange to more efficiently connect Hill Air Force Base with traffic approaching its northern entrance via I-15. Completion is expected in 2026.

• $146 Million: Interstate-15 / Shepherd Lane Interchange (Farmington in Davis County). Designed to "... reduce congestion and improve safety in this area," this interchange will "... cross over Union Pacific Railroad and Utah Transit Authority tracks" and improve connectivity to "the ramps associated with I-15, US-89, and Legacy Parkway (SR-67)." Construction is slated to begin this spring, with completion targeted for 2026.
• $133 Million: Interstate-15 / 1600 South to 2700 North Interchange (Springville & Spanish Fork, Utah County).

Work is underway on creating this new I-15 interchange, but a completion date was not noted by UDOT.

• $117 Million: State Routes 162 and 262 (San Juan County). Known as the "Energy Corridor," this undertaking includes laying 54 miles of pavement in southeastern Utah to cover SR-162 and SR-262.

According to the UDOT announcement,

"This project will make travel safer, smoother and more convenient for the residents in the area; tourists traveling to Bears Ears, Four Corners, and Hovenweep National Monuments; and workers serving the petroleum extraction industry in the region."

Construction is slated to begin this summer; a targeted completion date was not disclosed.

• $61 Million: State Route 30 (Logan in Cache County). SR-30 is the only major East-West roadway in Cache County that connects with "... the other major [North-South] transportation routes in the area, especially I-15, US-89, and US-91 (Sardine Canyon)." Construction on this 17.5-mile roadway began in July 2023 and is expected to be completed no later than 2026.
• $32 Million: Frontage Road along Interstate-215 (Taylorsville, Salt Lake County).

As shown in the image above, this construction project involves building a new, two-lane frontage road adjacent to southbound I-215 from 4100 So. to 4700 So. in Taylorsville.

Improvements will also include:

1. A new east-west road connecting the new Frontage Rd. to 2700 West;
2. Retaining walls;
3. A box culvert at North Jordan Canal;
4. Improvements to trail connections; and
5. A third westbound through-lane at the 4700 So. / I-215 interchange.

Work is underway and is expected to be wrapped-up in the spring of 2025.

• $26 Million: Enhanced Freeway Lane Striping (Davis, Salt Lake, Summit, Tooele, and Utah counties). Initial work has begun, with final work slated for completion this fall.
• $23 Million: Salt Lake County Bridges (Salt Lake County). Nineteen bridges spanning Bangerter Hwy., I-80, Redwood Rd., and State Routes 201 and 202 will be refurbished. Additionally, the two bridge decks at 3200 West and SR-201 will also be demolished and replaced. Work is underway, but a completion date was not noted by UDOT.

{NOTE: This list shown above only represents ~$1.78 billion in planned spending. As such, it does not represent all UDOT-directed road construction projects underway at this time.}

Closing Thoughts

From my experience, being forced off of southbound Bangerter Hwy. at the 12600 So. exit added ~10—15 minutes to my efforts to get to the Redwood Rd. / Bangerter Hwy. interchange on a Saturday that saw local surface streets reasonably busy.

That said, returning to the 12600 So. / Bangerter Hwy. interchange roughly 45 minutes later added only ~7—8 minutes to my drive, probably because I was able to avoid getting onto Bangerter Hwy. altogether.

For forward-thinking drivers interested in avoiding possible driving delays through the balance of this year, I recommend visiting the UDOT Traffic Page for the latest updates on road construction projects that might affect your travel plans in 2024.

Otherwise, "Good Luck" driving in Utah this year!

Personally, I think we'll see a fairly high number of frustrated drivers over the coming eight months due to road construction.