SALT LAKE COUNTY -- Now that the point of the mountain construction is done, the next big project for the Utah Department of Transportation is Bangerter Highway.
“Really what we're doing overall on Bangerter is trying to make it more freeway like,” said John Gleason, a spokesperson for UDOT.
And that means a lot of road work. Bangerter Highway will be down to one lane in each direction from 1-15 to the UTA frontrunner bridge. It’s about a 2-mile stretch of road.
“We're putting in many new freeway style interchanges," Gleason said. "We've got four coming in next year."
UDOT says starting Friday at 11 p.m., cars will merge to only one lane, causing backups far beyond the freeway and FrontRunner bridge. Lanes will reopen around 5 a.m. Monday morning.
“It will take out that conflict point where you have so many crashes at an intersection, and if you put in an interchange there where people can just bypass the former signal,” Gleason said.
As winter approaches, the clock is ticking and crews are trying to get as much done as possible. After all, Bangerter Highway is used by thousands of drivers each day, and the amount of drivers is only expected to increase.
“And the west side of Salt Lake is absolutely booming right now,” Gleason said.
The new interchanges are expected to dramatically improve traffic flow and thus improve safety. But, until then, UDOT asks for everyone to be patient and use alternate routes where possible.
“We're recommending that people either take 146th South, also 123rd, that's another route that people can consider taking,” Gleason said.