Geneva Road project reaches halfway mark

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UDOT’s Geneva Road widening project in Orem is 50 percent complete, with some activities ahead of schedule for the completion deadline in May 2012.

Geneva Road is a main road connecting Provo to Pleasant Grove. The north-south corridor will be expanded to five lanes between University Parkway and 1600 North, and a bridge will be built over the railroad tracks near 400 South in Orem.

Heather Barnum, a spokesperson for the project, said the widening project will provide an additional route to I-15.

The freeway construction west of Orem is more than halfway done.

“The five lanes will really open this area up to make it a more viable option to take instead of the freeway,” Barnum said.

Most of the work so far has been underground.

“You have to move entire power systems and pipes and fiber optic cable,” Barnum said. “It’s not as simple as just paving the road, but the good news is that we’re getting close to finishing that part.”

Crews have been working quickly and are motivated to get the project done.

“We really are moving at a fast pace,” Barnum said. “We’re mostly on schedule but there are a few things we’ve been able to complete ahead of schedule.”

UDOT added some resources to open an eastbound lane seven months early near the intersection of University Parkway and Geneva Road. Barnum said it was instant relief for people in the area.

The contractor, Kiewit Western Co., is planning to open all five new lanes from 400 North to 1600 North in Orem with new asphalt by the end of the year.

“Walls near 400 South will be up in November and the girders set for the rail bridge in December,” the contractor said in a news release. “The access road to Utah Transit Authority’s future intermodal hub at 1000 South (Utah Valley University West Campus) will be complete.”

As for the winter, traffic will be narrowed to one side of Geneva Road from 400 North to University Parkway while crews work on the other half.  Construction efforts will be focused on building the bridge over the railroad near 400 South.

So far the project has employed 220 people and logged 115,000 hours of work. Crews have placed more than 80,000 square yards of asphalt, which is enough to pave 15 football fields. They have installed more than 30,000 linear feet of pipe, which would be taller than Mt. Everest if stacked vertically end-to-end. And they have moved nearly 200,000 cubic yards of earth and material, which is the equivalent weight of 42,000 elephants, according to the news release.

“One great benefit of this project is that we’re adding a lot more sidewalks than what was previously there,” Burnam said. “By adding landscaping and lighting, it’s really going to make it a nice walkable road that people can use for running and biking and getting around by foot.”

Students have mixed feelings about the construction project.

“The traffic is frustrating and it takes me forever to get home,” Aleesha Bass, a junior from Lehi, said. “I don’t know why they had to widen both Geneva Road and I-15 at the same time.”

Another student Miles McKee, a senior from Riverton, agreed.

“I think it’s a good idea that they’re widening the road,” McKee, said. “I just think that they should have waited until they were done with I-15 construction because they’re using both of the main north-south routes.”

More information is available at udot.utah.gov/geneva. The project information hotline is 877-222-3757.

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