SALT LAKE CITY — The amount of rain Friday night and into the early hours of Saturday morning overwhelmed multiple road systems throughout the state. One of them was along I-215 (East Belt) where the Utah Department of Transportation is conducting a major freeway construction project.
The project will last two to three years, and eventually, this stretch of I-215 will all be ripped up and replaced with new concrete.
But new drains are also being installed, which factored into what happened Saturday morning.
“We’re replacing the drainage system, the older drainage system and older infrastructure out there,” UDOT spokesman John Gleason said. “Right now, you have the temporary drainage system in place and unfortunately that was overwhelmed with the intense rainfall you saw today."
Workers installed another drain to help pump the water off the road.
"We had pumps out there, crews out there right away working on it,” Gleason added. “When you have an intense storm like we saw today and we’re in the middle of the construction project, you can have some of these headaches that happen.”
If you see standing water or the roads are already wet, the best advice UDOT gives is to slow down — especially if you are in a construction zone.
