Hundreds of Utah County motorists found themselves snagged in an hourlong traffic jam Wednesday evening as road workers held up traffic to pave one of the county's busiest intersections during rush-hour traffic.

"It was crazy," said Saratoga Springs resident Kaleb Mangum. "After waiting for so long I ended up turning around, trying to go another direction; but so did everyone else… so that (route) turned into another traffic jam."

Mangum said it took him more than one hour to get to his destination: a neighborhood a two-mile drive to the north.

Geneva Rock, the company the state hired to do the massive Redwood Road widening project, apparently miscalculated the amount of time it would take to wrap up work at the heavily trafficked intersection of state Route 73 and Redwood Road, commonly called Four Corners in Saratoga Springs, according to Utah Department of Transportation spokesman Adan Carrillo.

Geneva Rock's miscalculation backed traffic up in bumper-to-bumper conditions for more than a mile in at least three directions, and a half-mile in the fourth direction, between 3:30 and 5 p.m., according to several motorists on scene.

The intersection is one of only two ways — and the only major one — in and out of Eagle Mountain, most of Saratoga Springs and surrounding areas of Utah County. Roughly 20,000 vehicles make their way through Four Corners daily, most of them during the morning and evening commutes, according to a UDOT study, which is posted on their Web site.

"I just can't fathom why the hell these guys decided it was a good idea to roll out the pavement right here, right now," complained Jeremy Mertz, who was still trying to make his way through the mess at about 5 p.m. "Seriously! I don't even know what else to say but it's so ridiculous it has to be a joke."

It was no joke.

"Apparently, (Geneva Rock)… was trying to finish it up and once they started that they realized it was a little bit more (work) than what they had anticipated before the rush hour," Carrillo said. "They couldn't just leave (the paving) there halfway (completed) so they had to do as much work as they possibly could… They can't just walk away from it."

In a perfect catch-22 scenario, the miles long, rush-hour traffic actually worsened an already frustrating situation, Carrillo said, because Geneva Rock construction trucks, with needed equipment and material, were also stalled among the lines of motorists.

Due to dropping night temperatures, crews are limited to paving during the day when asphalt is more effectively applied.

Through Carrillo, Geneva Rock officials said they would again be working on paving the intersection into Thursday but only until about 3:30 p.m. They should be done working on all aspect of the intersection in "a few days."

"They will not be paving during rush hour anymore," Carrillo said.