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SALT LAKE CITY — The busiest travel time of the holiday weekend is expected to start Thursday from noon to 7 p.m. as millions of people take to the roads for Independence Day.
While many get the weekend off, it's all hands on deck for the Utah Department of Transportation. UDOT predicts 20 to 30 percent more Utahns will be heading to their holiday destinations this weekend.
“This is one of the biggest travel weekends that we have all year,” says UDOT spokesman John Gleason. “There are so many people out on the roads we want to make their drive as smooth as possible.”
UDOT's Traffic Operations Center will be able to help traffic flow in every city in the state.
“We're unique in the fact that we're one of the only states that has every city on our system for traffic signals,” Gleason said.
For the stadium of fire we've seen about a 50 percent reduction in travel time. It used to take people an hour and a half to get out of Stadium of Fire, now it's down to 45 minutes.
–UDOT traffic manager Eric Rasband
While people are flocking to fireworks displays across the state, the 40,000 people that will attend Stadium of Fire won’t have to worry about planning a lot of extra time to get there.
”Stadium of Fire down in Provo is huge,” Gleason said. “That’s where we want to provide the most green lights.”
UDOT traffic manager Eric Rasband says it only takes a second and “about three clicks of a button” to make all the lights glow green.
”For the stadium of fire we've seen about a 50 percent reduction in travel time,” Rasband said. “It used to take people an hour and a half to get out of Stadium of Fire, now it's down to 45 minutes.”
UDOT will also halt a lot of construction projects this weekend to make traveling easier.