Horror stories about the reconstruction of I-15 between Kaysville and Centerville have been greatly exaggerated, according to the Utah Department of Transportation official overseeing the project.
Despite some reports, Jim McMinimee, director of UDOT's Region 2 that includes south Davis County, said the project in fact will finish early and under budget.He said an erroneous news report misinterpreted the comments of a UDOT official who said he was quoted as saying the work would cost twice as much as originally expected and that it would take until 1997. But McMinimee said the project will be completed for less than the $8.2 million budgeted and that it will be done next summer, which he said is a year ahead of schedule.
The paving-rehabilitation project is supposed to add 15 years to the life of the freeway. The work, which has gone on for several months, has created traffic jams along the heavily used corridor north of Salt Lake City.
Winter weather will stop reconstruction sometime in the next several weeks, and construction barrier walls will be removed to allow for normal freeway flows. Work will resume in the spring, however, and will be finished "early next summer," said McMinimee.