LAYTON – Drivers can expect delays on I-15 near the Layton Hills Mall as the Utah Department of Transportation sets beams for a new overpass in the area.
I-15 will be closed between Hill Field Road and Antelope Drive each night from Friday, Jan. 26, through Sunday, Jan. 28, with all traffic detoured off the freeway and onto surface streets to get around the closure.
Crews will be setting steel girders across the lanes of I-15. “So we obviously don’t want traffic underneath us while we are setting those 50,000-pound girders, so we will be diverting traffic off of I-15,” said Brent DeYoung, UDOT district engineer.
This new east-west crossing over I-15 will reduce congestion at the Hill Field Road and Antelope Drive interchanges and should improve access to nearby businesses.
“Right now, if you are on the west side or you’re on the east side and you want to get across the road you have to go out to Antelope Drive or come back to Hill Field Road and go through the interchanges,” said Mike Romero, project manager of the Layton I-15 Crossing project. “And at certain times of day, that can be quite a challenge with all the traffic that we have in the area.”
Crews will begin closing lanes up to two hours in advance to prepare for the full closure, which will happen for three consecutive nights: Friday at 11 p.m. to Saturday at 8 a.m.; Saturday at 11 p.m. to Sunday at 9 a.m.; and Sunday at 10 p.m. to Monday at 5 a.m.
For northbound drivers on I-15, traffic will be diverted to Hill Field Road and back onto I-15 at Antelope Drive. Southbound drivers will be diverted to Antelope Drive and back onto I-15 at Layton Parkway.
Drivers on the Layton Parkway northbound on-ramp will be diverted to Main Street and back onto I-15 at Antelope Drive; drivers on Hill Field Road northbound on-ramp will be diverted to Hill Field Road and back onto I-15 at Antelope Drive; and drivers on the Antelope Drive southbound on-ramp will be diverted to Main Street and back onto I-15 at Layton Parkway.
UDOT is asking drivers to be cautious while driving in the area. “Anytime we close I-15 at night, we’re concerned about the safety of the traveling public. So be alert, slow down and be safe,” DeYoung said.
He added, “We’ll try to make it easy for them to skirt around the construction by modifying the signal timing on the detour routes so they can flow more freely around the construction.”
Northbound I-15 will be shut down in the same area next weekend, weather permitting. The $25 million project is expected to be complete in the middle of June, according to Romero.
Contributing: Peter Samore