Thanksgiving weekend is a busy one for travelers

Wasatch Constructors will abandon the I-15 corridor Wednesday morning and won't return to work until late Sunday, giving holiday travelers something for which to be thankful.

Brian Mauldwin, spokesman for the construction consortium that is rebuilding 17 miles of I-15 in Salt Lake County, said the break is intended to give both motorists and employees a more enjoyable Thanksgiving."It makes sense. We want people to be able to enjoy being with their families, so it makes sense to avoid any traffic disruption during the holidays," he said.

"We won't have any mainline closures. We have no plans to have any ramp closures or any changes to the mainline (I-15) Thursday through Saturday."

Mauldwin said some contractors and subcontractors may choose to work through the holiday weekend, so some work may take place off the existing roadway, but it will be nothing that would impede traffic. The vast majority of the nearly 1,000 workers employed by Wasatch Constructors and its subcontractors will have the four-day weekend off.

Most work that requires restrictions on I-15 or nearby streets takes place nightly from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. or 8 a.m. This week those projects will cease, with the completion of overnight work Wednesday morning.

That work will begin again, however, Sunday night. Anyone planning to return home late Sunday night want to aim for pulling into the driveway no later than 10 p.m., Mauldwin suggested.

The current two-and-two alignment - two lanes in each direction on all but a small segment of the I-15 corridor - will remain in effect throughout the week and weekend, as it will for nearly two more years.