From Deseret News archives:
UDOT officials provide more details about I-15 rebuild in Utah County
State transportation officials gave Utah legislators a number of funding options Thursday aimed at getting most of I-15 in Utah Country rebuilt and widened.
It appears that legislators won't have the cash to rebuild the freeway's whole length in the county, one of the fastest growing in the state. But lawmakers seem determined to do more than what Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. suggests in the way of highway construction, even while the state faces a $1 billion revenue shortfall this year.
Basically, the I-15 work will be shortened and made less expensive through a number of alternatives.
The most favored approach, it seems, is called "the core" — rebuild I-15 from American Fork to the freeway's Springville/U.S. 6 interchange.
Originally, that was scheduled to cost $2.63 billion. But UDOT officials say they now think they can do it for between $1.8 billion and $2.1 billion, depending on the cost of construction materials.
UDOT has received bids well below expectations on recent road contracts, said Carlos Braceras, UDOT deputy director.
Unfortunately, much of the recent I-15 widening in the northern part of the county will have to be torn up. But UDOT officials said they always knew that — it was just that a high-occupancy lane had to be constructed because the freeway overcrowding was so severe. That ground-up concrete will be used as fill for the new freeway, which will bring some savings.
The part of I-15 not reconstructed from southern Salt Lake County to American Fork will cost about $1.3 billion to rebuild. And most likely it will be done at a later date.
