Backers cheer I-15 expansion

PROVO — The wait for congestion to lighten up on Interstate 15 in Utah County just got a little bit shorter.

Members of the Mountainland Association of Governments heard the new plans from the Utah Department of Transportation for the I-15 expansion project.

Merrell Jolley, a UDOT representative who helped spearhead the I-15 project, said even though the project was scaled back by the Legislature, he's still excited that the project can begin.

"Today is a banner day, one of the most exciting days," he said.

UDOT will now look for a design and construction company to begin the process immediately and actual construction on the project will begin in the spring of 2010 and construction is expected to take about five years, Jolley said.

The original reconstruction plan included widening the freeway and improving and creating new interchanges from 12300 South in Salt Lake County to Payson Main Street. Although the project was dramatically scaled down, it will still cost $2.6 billion, which the state will fund entirely.

The estimated price of the original I-15 reconstruction plan would have cost about $5 billion. Legislators decided to decrease the project to preserve the state's bonding capacity. Reconstruction will now take place from American Fork Main Street to Spanish Fork Main Street.

Congestion also snarls traffic from Lehi to the Point of the Mountain, which is no longer part of the expansion. However, some northern county officials aren't upset about the scale-back.

Eagle Mountain City Councilman David Lifferth said it would have been nice if the Legislature had approved an expansion for the entire proposed project, but he's pleased that at least some major needs are being met.

"We know we need greater capacity on I-15," he said.

Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn said the congestion from Lehi to the Salt Lake County line needs to be addressed at some point because of the high volume of traffic.

"We can't last long without improvements to the north of Lehi. ... That's one of the heaviest traffic problems that we have," he said.

Darrell Cook, MAG executive director, said the legislators placed specific language in the bill to allow UDOT to go before the Legislature in next year's general session and pursue more funding for a larger expansion.

He said legislators passed the smaller expansion to get the process started with the possibility of a larger project in the future.

Although the project was reduced, all the county officials were excited for the project to begin to move forward.

"This is a red letter day, when you think about how long you've been lobbying," Washburn said.

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E-mail: csmith@desnews.com