Layton interchange project is ahead of schedule

LAYTON — On its way south to I-15, Layton's Main Street sneaks through a temporary one-lane-wide gap between two mounds of earth about 25 feet high.

Cars line up single file during intermittent interruptions as trucks hauling even more dirt make their way to the construction site that will become a new full interchange where only a partial interchange exists.

The traffic delays at the onramp are brief, and the construction zone is quite the attention grabber for northbound I-15 motorists.

The $97 million Utah Department of Transportation project is designed to provide more efficient traffic through southern Layton. It will eliminate the need to drive through a railroad crossing for some residents.

And it's expected to be completed by December.

Motorists passing through Layton whiz past a pile driver emitting puffs of smoke with its constant ffff-BLANG, ffff-BLANG, ffff-BLANG. A sparse forest of steel piles — H-shaped beams — is grouped on both sides of I-15.

Sometimes, the sound can be heard miles away. Eventually, those beams will support a bridge over the freeway, a bridge whose construction is just now beginning.

Thursday, Darin Fristrup, UDOT's project manager over the interchange construction, sat down with the Deseret News to talk about where the project is going.

"They are really knocking it out," Fristrup said of UDOT's contractor, Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction. "It's 40 percent complete."

Originally, the project was estimated to last two construction seasons because it requires two bridges, new onramps, a new road and the reconstruction of southern Main Street, said UDOT spokesman Vic Saunders.

But by designing the project as it moves forward and by building bridges on site and moving them into place when they're complete, Wadsworth is expected to keep construction limited to one season.

There will be two freeway closures, one northbound and one southbound, in August when the bridge structures are "launched" or slid out over I-15.

But for the duration of the project, the southbound onramp to I-15 will remain open and uninterrupted, though its configuration will change.

"It hasn't been without its challenges," Fristrup said.

Moving utilities, water lines and storm drains are tricky. So were the full and partial acquisitions of about 30 properties, including Sill's Cafe, Doug and Emmy's, Allco Discount Auto Parts and North Davis Gymnastics.

Those four businesses have relocated or are in the process of relocating.

And remaining business owners have voiced concerns about construction activities and future Main Street construction in their neighborhood.