State roads to benefit from $1B bond sale

Drivers in Utah County will be among the beneficiaries of the state's unprecedented $1 billion bond sale.

Some of the projects that will get funded with the money will be a massive I-15 reconstruction in Utah County and parts of the Mountain View Corridor in both Utah and Salt Lake counties.

Of the billion-dollar state-issued bond, $905 million is going to transportation, said Carlos Braceras, UDOT deputy director.

Braceras does not know how much money will go to specific construction projects such as I-15, because the money ends up in three basic pots.

He said $244 million is going to the Critical Highway Needs program; $621 million to the Transportation Investment Fund; and $39.8 million to highway projects for first-class counties, those with at least 700,000 residents. (Salt Lake County is the only one.)

While the Legislature determines what money goes into each pot, the Utah Transportation Commission prioritizes the projects and what pot they go into.

Examples of the critical construction projects are the Southern Parkway in St. George, which is in construction phase. In the design phase are the Mountain View Corridor, a new south Layton I-15 interchange, the Vineyard connector, a thoroughfare that will run between I-15 and Utah Lake to accommodate development in western Utah County, and other projects, according to documents provided by UDOT.

The money also will go to reconstruct 15 miles of I-15 in Utah County, similar to but smaller in scale to the Salt Lake County I-15 reconstruction prior to the 2002 Olympics. The Utah County segment will be between American Fork Main and Provo Center streets.

"In general we're adding two lanes in each direction," said Dal Hawks, project manager. "And we're replacing the older bridges and building new interchanges where they haven't been updated for 30 or 40 years."

Construction begins in the spring of 2010 and will finish four years later.

Mountain View Corridor is a three-phased project that planners eventually envision as a freeway connecting I-80 to Lehi Main Street, running along the west sides of Salt Lake and Utah counties. For now, there's only funding for construction of one portion of the road in Salt Lake County, from 160000 South to 90000 South and one portion of Utah County, an I-15 connector at 2100 North. A contractor is being selected for the project this month.

The largest investment fund project is I-15 and the Pioneer Crossing, a east-west road that will run through Lehi and connect to I-15 at American Fork Main Street. Some of the funding for Mountain View Corridor also comes from that fund, according to UDOT documents.

About $15 million of first-class county highway funding will go to three projects, including two continuous-flow intersections at 4700 South and 5400 South on Bangerter Highway and a reversible "flex" lane at 5400 South from Redwood Road to Bangerter Highway in which the direction of the lanes during peak hours of the day may switch. A continuous-flow intersection allows drivers to turn left at the same time other drivers are turning left or going straight through. It's supposed to reduce congestion. The project is in the design phase.

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