AMERICAN FORK — Commuters who use the I-15 overpass at Main Street in American Fork may have noticed increased time to get to work in the past few days.

Work on the overpass, which takes drivers from Lehi to American Fork, has noticeably stalled traffic.

Those delays, however, will soon end.

Construction at the edges of the overpass to add left-turning lanes, light signals and sidewalks began in October. Crews put down additional pavement early in the week and by the end of the week, traffic impact should be significantly decreased, said Geoff Dupaix, Region 3 spokesman for the Utah Department of Transportation.

Delays early last week were caused by crews putting down road base, which took up more space than previous weeks' work, Dupaix said.

The entire project should be done by the end of the month except for some landscaping and other work that will only have a minor impact, he said.

Although traffic has been horrendous at certain times of the day, some local businesses are finding little impact to their sales and customers.

Dean Hall, general manager for Hart's Gas and Food, said the construction had some impact on

their business, but not enough to make too much of a difference, especially since the project is short-term.

"Initially they said it would be a two-month project, and they're halfway through or close to that point," he said. "If it was a two-year demolition and rebuild it would have a huge impact, but two months, we can live with that."

He also said the construction isn't all bad: The workers come in the store and purchase food and drinks.

"They've been really good to work with," he said.

Other businesses in the area, such as Sunglasses Only and Seven Salon, said they hadn't noticed any impact on their business because of the construction.

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E-mail: csmith@desnews.com