A summer-long nightmare for west-side motorists is about to end. But one more frightening scene is ahead.
The Utah Department of Transportation, which has restricted traffic on a 24-block segment of Redwood Road to one lane in each direction since the spring, now plans to shut down a half-block section of the road for at least a month.On the morning of Saturday, Sept. 27, UDOT plans to close Redwood Road between 9000 South and 9050 South.
Department officials say the closure is needed if widening and reconstruction of the major north-south artery between 9000 South and 7800 South is to be completed by the first week of November.
"Our contractor thinks it's going to take the full 43 days, but if we're lucky and things move faster, we'll certainly open it as fast as we can," said project manager Rick Campagna. "The flip side to that is if we end up with 30 days of rain."
If that happens, UDOT might have trouble completing the project before the start of winter. "We're going to do everything we can to get it done before snow flies and stays," Campagna said.
The two separate widening and reconstruction projects on the southern end of Redwood Road originally were supposed to take two construction seasons to complete. UDOT accelerated the work, and work elsewhere in the Salt Lake Valley, in an effort to improve streets parallel to I-15 before the huge I-15 reconstruction project is too far along.
The widening of Redwood Road between 7800 South and 6600 South is on schedule for completion by Oct. 15. When completed, Redwood Road will be a six-lane street with a turn lane in some locations.
In projects like this one, UDOT normally closes no more than one quarter of an intersection, said UDOT spokeswoman Andrea Packer.
In this case, the southern half of the Redwood Road-9000 South intersection will close. That will save about a month's worth of work and give crews an honest chance to complete the project before it's too late into the fall, Campagna said.
Access to all businesses in the area will remain open during the half-block shutdown.
"Some of the businesses out there do have two or three accesses, and all of those accesses might not be open, but there will be access to all businesses," Packer said.
Campagna said most business owners have expressed interest in getting the project completed as quickly as possible, even if it does involve closing a section of the road.
During the closure, southbound Redwood Road traffic will remain restricted to one lane of traffic between 9000 South and 6600 South. At 9000 South, southbound motorists will have to go either east or west on 9000 South. Traffic on 9000 South will be unaffected, accept that cars may not turn south onto Redwood Road.
Motorists using northbound Redwood Road south of the intersection will be encouraged to exit the road at 10400 South and travel west to 2700 West.
UDOT is spending nearly $39 million to rebuild the 24-block segment of Redwood Road.