FARMINGTON — A new and improved U.S. 89 through the Farmington area is nearly complete and open for more efficient traffic flow.
The $48 million project has been completed by Utah Department of Transportation and its contractors two months ahead of schedule with landscaping and some shoulder work still to be completed. UDOT is also painting the overpasses over I-15 to make them more aesthetically pleasing.
Most of the cost went into three bridges over Shepard Lane and the frontage roads near Main Street and Cherry Hill.
The bridge over Park Lane, formerly called Burke Lane, will be completed in October.
"With its proximity to Legacy Parkway and I-15, we wanted to get this project done as soon as possible so the public wouldn't have to deal with so much construction at one time," UDOT spokesman Brent Wilhite said.
Motorists on U.S. 89 now travel over Shepard Lane via a new bridge. In the past, they had to drive through a signalized intersection that caused backups, Wilhite said. "Under the old situation, if you were headed northbound on I-15 and wanted to exit on 89, the stoplight on Shepard Lane caused frustrating backups, so we raised the road and put in an overpass that goes over Shepard Lane."
The project also includes one-way frontage roads on both sides of U.S. 89, which will be used for local access to businesses and residential neighborhoods, he said.
Although the project wasn't slated to begin until 2005, UDOT began work in 2002 as a result of a court order suspending construction of the controversial Legacy Highway project in southwestern Davis County. "We had the workers and equipment in the area and this project was desperately needed, and since we had the resources there, it made sense to put them to work," Wilhite said.
UDOT's system of traffic cameras covers the stretch of highway with cameras at the Cherry Hill and Shepard Lane intersections so personnel can see traffic conditions including accidents. "This allows more efficient dispatch of Utah Highway Patrol or our incident management team and makes more efficient use of lights to make intersections more free-flowing," Wilhite said.
UDOT has turned its efforts to widening I-15 in both directions from the I-215 North interchange to the Beck Street overpass in North Salt Lake.
Construction will result in the relocation of the U.S. 89 southbound onramp and will provide a new acceleration lane north of the existing onramp, Wilhite said. UDOT is trying to reduce the bottleneck that occurs during rush hour along that section of I-15.
The Beck Street northbound onramp is being rebuilt to accommodate the widening project and an acceleration lane will be added to the Beck Street northbound ramp.
E-mail: lweist@desnews.com