The I-15 Core Project is coming to a close. This seemingly eternal project lasted thirty-five months. On November 5th, all the lanes from Spanish Fork to Lehi on I-15 opened. People in Utah County can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and there aren't orange barricades in the way.
Kimball Barker and his bandmates use I-15 regularly to get to gigs. Once he heard about the end of construction, he breathed a sigh of relief. 'I'm excited. The rate of travel is going to be much quicker and it'll just be more accessible,' said Barker.
The project reconstructed twenty-four miles of the highway. U-dot opened the final two lanes going each direction from Spanish Fork to Lehi today, which completes the project. They originally planned to open in December, but doing most of the construction work at night allowed them to get more work done.
U-dot says that people will now know where their exit is and not miss it. 'People have had to get used to these changing conditions throughout this whole construction process, and it's been difficult to know what was going to happen each night, and...now those ramps will be in their permanent spot,' said Leigh Dethman, I-15 Core Project Spokesperson.
It's not only the largest highway construction project in Utah, but the fastest billion-dollar public highway project completion in the country. U-dot says there are still some finishing touches left to do and they'll wrap those up by December. Such details include landscaping, fencing and concrete work. These will also be done at night so as not to affect traffic flow.