DRAPER — The Utah Department of Transportation has returned to the I-15 corridor with another major reconstruction project, this time at the 12300 South interchange.
And — as with the massive rebuild of I-15 completed last year — the $90 million interchange reconstruction and widening of six miles of 12300/12600 South will inconvenience motorists.
But perhaps not as much as they might expect.
The 12300 South onramps and offramps, for example, will be closed for no more than two weeks at a time — a far cry from the six-month closures common on the I-15 reconstruction project.
Nighttime work on the interchange will more often close a single lane in each direction rather than an entire side of the freeway. And UDOT plans to maintain traffic on 12300/12600 South while the road is rebuilt.
"We went out and talked to people well in advance of starting the project, and maintenance of traffic during construction was a huge issue, so it's something we decided to concentrate pretty hard on," said UDOT spokesman Tom Hudachko.
"We've put forth a pretty serious effort to maintain the flow of traffic during construction as well as access to businesses."
Motorists won't be spared from all pain, however, over the two-year duration of the design-build project.
Wednesday, crews began a nightly ritual that will continue through mid-December. One freeway lane was closed in each direction, between 11800 South and 12800 South, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
That squeezes the six-lane interstate into a four-lane freeway so UDOT can expand the median and shoulder. The extra space will allow all freeway traffic to be shifted onto the southbound side in the spring.
Again unlike the I-15 reconstruction project, the traffic shift will accommodate all six lanes drivers are accustomed to instead of reducing the freeway to two lanes in each direction for two years. Each of those six lanes will be 11 feet wide, however, rather than the federal standard of 12 feet.
While the current nighttime restrictions are in place, crews are building a temporary bridge that will carry traffic above 12300 South while the road and interchange are rebuilt. The work will require overnight closures of 12300 South, beneath the freeway, beginning in early December.
Crews will need more than 14 days to rebuild a freeway ramp, Hudachko said, but the work will rotate so that no ramp is closed for more than 14 days at a time.
Work on 12300 South itself will not begin until February. A groundbreaking ceremony was held Saturday.
For the first year, UDOT's reconstruction efforts will be confined to the area from 1300 West to just east of the interchange at Factory Outlet Drive. The Jordan River bridge will be rebuilt and the railroad crossing will be restructured to take the tracks above 12300 South at 500 West.
From the fall of 2003 until the fall of 2004, work will continue at the interchange and reconstruction will begin on 12300 South from Factory Outlet Drive to 700 East. At the same time, crews will rebuild 12600 South from 1300 West to the Bangerter Highway. Pedestrian overpasses will be built at 500 West and 2700 West.
The contractor for the project is GRW Design Builders, a joint venture of Geneva Rock Products Inc., Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction Co. and W.W. Clyde & Co. The design-build contract is $65.6 million. Most of the remaining expense has been for property acquisition to widen 12300/12600 South.
For more information, check the project Web site at www.12300south.com.
E-mail: zman@desnews.com