UDOT briefs Orem council on I-15 construction impacts

(Daily Herald) Orem and its four freeway interchanges are bracing for impact with the $1.7 billion Interstate 15 reconstruction project set to begin within months.

During an update to the Orem City Council on Tuesday, Dal Hawks, the I-15 corridor project director for the Utah Department of Transportation, said that when he is asked where the project will begin first, he replies, "Everywhere."

The overall project will expand the freeway by two lanes in both directions from Lehi Main Street to Spanish Fork Main Street, according to the official Web site at www.i15core.utah.gov. In addition, the work will involve replacing or restoring bridges, rebuilding or reconfiguring 10 freeway interchanges, and extending the HOV lane from University Parkway to Spanish Fork.

At Orem's University Parkway interchange, three left-turn lanes are planned to take traffic from southbound I-15 to eastbound on the parkway. A continuous flow intersection, or CFI, will allow movement into Utah Valley University.

The CFI is "significantly different than any intersection in Utah Valley," said Paul Goodrich, Orem's transportation engineer. "Orem has not seen the computer modeling of the CFI at Sandhill Road, and we are very concerned about how it could negatively impact business access in the area."

Goodrich noted that the consortium of contractors and engineers awarded the bid on the project, Provo River Constructors, has proposed closing 800 West at University Parkway in order to make the CFI work.

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