LINDON — What used to be farmland is now a well-landscaped road that slices through west Lindon providing quick access to the freeway and, as of yet, undeveloped land.

City officials and construction managers uncovered the traffic signals and removed orange blockades Thursday afternoon to officially open the new section of road in Lindon at Geneva Road that runs west from 700 North for just over a mile.

The two-lane road with a landscaped median is expected to carry about 20,000 vehicles per day, city engineers project, eventually joining up with a Pleasant Grove connection near the I-15 freeway entrance.

It's all zoned commercial, which will add to the future marketability of the land.

"This gets the gateway on the north side of our city opened up," said Lindon mayor Jeff Acerson.

Alongside the road is more than 100 acres of commercially zoned land. Painted turn lanes were included in the project to accommodate the anticipated commercial development along the road.

The 40 mph road will eventually become two lanes in each direction, said Mark Christensen project manager for J-U-B Engineers, who designed the project.

"The city will see increased convenience for Lindon and Pleasant Grove residents, as well as (increased) tax revenue from growth, "Christensen said. Construction was by Condie Construction.

The project, which came in $150,000 under budget, cost $4.7 million and includes more than 10,000 feet of sewer pipe, nearly 340,000 square feet of asphalt, an at-grade railroad crossing and a traffic signal.

"In a day where things are constantly going over (price), it's nice to know that we went under," Acerson said with a chuckle.

The road has been on the city's master plan for about eight years, and ever since the I-15 interchange at Pleasant Grove and Lindon was completed four years ago, the road has been a big priority, said city planning and zoning director Adam Cowie.

Pleasant Grove is scheduled to finish its quarter mile of the road in the spring.

The right-of-way for the road was donated by property owners on both sides of the road with the understanding that the city would build it, Cowie said.

The eight-light intersection includes cameras that will eventually be connected to the Utah Department of Transportation monitoring system because Geneva Road is a state-owned road.

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