DAVIS COUNTY, Utah -- Crews with Utah Department of Transportation demolished a bridge at 400 North in Bountiful Saturday night, and while all lanes of traffic have reopened in the area there are more projects beginning elsewhere that may cause delays for drivers in the coming days.
The demolition was part of several construction projects along the Interstate 15 corridor.
Both north and southbound lanes were closed for the demolition. According to UDOT tweet, the demolition was completed three hours ahead of schedule and lanes were opened around 11 a.m.
Motorists, like Jason Wallace of West Bountiful, said they found alternate routes Sunday morning.
"It caused me to get off the freeway in Farmington this morning and take the old highway into Bountiful where I normally would ride all the way on the freeway to my house," he said.
Zac Hubble, another Bountiful resident, said he was glad they did the demolition on a weekend rather than a weekday.
"Better Sunday than a regular day, I guess," he said.
And Mindy Gifford, who was traveling through the area from Idaho, said the demolition was an inconvenience.
"It is kind of a pain, because I'm just going to get on this main road and follow it down, instead of going on the freeway so I don't have to deal with it," she said.
Utah Department of Transportation spokesman John Gleason said that for commuters who frequently travel on I-15 in Daivs County, another project that has been causing headache should be coming to a close.
"Starting [Sunday night], southbound I-15 will be doing away with the lane splits, and then northbound I-15 [Monday] night, the lane splits will be a thing of the past, as well," he said.
He said these small projects are steps toward the larger freeway expansion project, which is coming closer to being completed.
"When this project is wrapped up, we'll have the longest consecutive express lanes in the country," Gleason said.
In Utah County, southbound I-15 has been reduced to one lane between 1400 North and 400 South in Springville for concrete pavement maintenance. The restrictions will remain in place until Monday at 7 a.m.
"It will be down to one lane [Sunday]," Gleason said. "Southbound I-15 in Springville, and starting [Monday] we'll be implementing lane splits. So the traffic that wants to get off on the two Springville exits will get over on the right lanes, and then the through traffic on I-15 will continue on the lefthand lanes."
The split will remain in place until Thursday to allow the concrete pavement to cure.
Motorists should plan for severe traffic delays of more than an hour on Sunday between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. UDOT officials suggest U.S. Highway 89 thru Provo and Springville as an alternative route.
Gleason said it's all part of an effort to meet the demands of the area's growing population.
"We want to make sure we're not caught in a scenario where we don't have the roads to support the amount of population, the amount of people we have here in the state," he said.
More information on construction projects can be found here.
