Restoration of a State Street bridge near Center Street will keep pedestrians on their toes and motor-ists on alert.
The Utah Transit Authority began refurbishing the bridge Wednesday as part of the $312 million construction of a 15-mile light-rail transit system between downtown Salt Lake City and Sandy. The bridge work should be completed by the end of November.For now, the west side of State Street in that area will be closed to pedestrians while crews work on the west-side bridge abutment. Later, pedestrian traffic will be shifted to the west side while the east-side abutment is repaired.
State Street will remain open to automobiles, but traffic likely will be reduced to two lanes in each direction for a four- to six-week period when workers turn their attention to the underside of the bridge.
UTA spokeswoman Coralie Alder said the agency should know by the end of next week when those lane restrictions will be in place. The dates and times of those lane reductions must be approved by the Utah Department of Transportation, which will coordinate the schedule with its own construction projects.
Scaffolding on the State Street bridge will shield motorists from any construction debris.
The light-rail system is expected to be completed by the spring of 2000.