SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Department of Transportation is warning drivers to be aware of construction crews as road projects ramp up this summer.
WATCH: UDOT begins construction on new highway in west Davis County
UDOT is working on 185 projects across the state this year with a value of $3.45 billion over the life of the projects. The projects include bWATCH: UDOT begins construction on new highway in west Davis Countyuilding bridges, interchanges and repaving roadways.
“Everything from small sidewalk projects all the way up to West Davis corridor, which is a new highway,” said Robert Stewart, UDOTs Director of Construction.
One of the major projects drivers should keep an eye on is Interstate 80 and Interstate 215 in eastern Salt Lake. Crews will add a new eastbound lane on I-80 and reconstruct three bridges along I-80 at 1300 East, 1700 East and 2000 East.
“We need people to plan ahead and change their trips to minimize these delays,” said Stewart.
READ: 12600 South at Bangerter to close for several months
Another notable project will be the addition of three interchanges to Bangerter Highway on 6200 South, 10400 South and 12600 South. UDOT says a lot of the projects are road maintenance, but some are also to keep up with Utah’s growing population.
“The population of Utah is projected to grow by about double in the next 40 years, that’s a huge amount of influx of people," said Stewart. "All of those people, in order to have a great quality of life, need to be able to get around and because of that, we need to ensure that our facilities will meet that demand for the future.”
As drivers see more construction crews on the roads, Stewart has a reminder to be careful.
“In these work zones, these are our mothers and our fathers and our brothers and our sisters, we implore drivers to slow down, obey the speed limits within work zones, minimize their distractions because we really want everybody to go home safely at the end of the night.”
