TAYLORSVILLE, Utah — The Utah Department of Transportation is moving forward with plans to make Bangerter highway into a Freeway.
Plans are in the works to convert three more intersections on the highway to freeway on and off ramps.
“This is the final push to make Bangerter highway more of a freeway” John Gleason with UDOT said, “You’re going to cut down on some of those conflict points where you can see cars interesting with each other.”
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Right now, the plans are to change 4700 S, 9800 S and 13400 S all to the interchange style.
Add that to the 3 already under construction at 6200 S, 10400 S and 12600 S and the highway is rapidly moving in the direction that many people have been encouraging for a long time.
Taylorsville City is also already open to the idea, issuing a statement to FOX13 saying:
"The Bangerter Highway interchanges at 6200 South and 5400 South are valuable assets to Taylorsville and we anticipate the 4700 South interchanges will be as well. We are looking forward to the project getting started and completed quickly. We also commend UDOT as a responsive partner who has minimized impacts to our community." —Kim Horiuchi, communications director for Taylorsville City
Community meetings will start this month to discuss the idea of the change, the first of which is already set on Tuesday, July 20 from 6 to 7 p.m. via Zoom.
On Wednesday, July 21 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. an in-person open house will be hosted at Kennedy Junior High School.
As for the three intersections under construction right now Gleason says, "We are going to be wrapped up with those 3 interchanges later on this year...the goal is to have them open in time for the holiday shopping season.”
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The big motivation for these projects boils down to two reasons.
First it comes down to safety, Bangerter highway has been the scene of some high-speed crashes and flows a lot of motorists through it for its infrastructure.
Second will be the commute, UDOT estimates that the completed projects it will cut 20 minutes off a commute from Draper to SLC International Airport.
Click here to see more of UDOT’s project across the state.
