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SANDY — One of the South Valley's most heavily traveled interchanges is set to close entirely Friday night as crews completely reconstruct it from the ground up.
The Utah Department of Transportation announced that the I-15 interchange at 10600 South will close in both directions beginning at 9 p.m. Friday through Sept. 25, with crews working around the clock to finish the $23 million project in a timely manner.
"They will be working 24 hours a day (throughout) the full 16 days of the closure," said UDOT project manager Lisa Zundel. "It will equate to about 10,000 man-hours."
She said because the area is so heavily used — accommodating an estimated 42,000 vehicles per day — the work needs to be done as quickly as possible to reduce the hardship on local businesses and drivers.
“Because closing an interchange is never easy, we’ve been working collaboratively with local officials and business owners since the early planning stages of the project,” she said. “In working together, we determined that a shorter full closure would be much easier on everyone rather than several months of lane closures and extra delays.”
Zundel noted that drivers will still be able to exit from southbound I-15 onto westbound 10600 South, as well as get from eastbound 10600 South onto southbound I-15 – but all other ramps will be closed during the reconstruction project. She advised using 9000 South and 11400 South as alternate routes to cross I-15 or getting on or off the freeway.
During the closure, crews will install a three-sided underpass that will connect the northbound I-15 off-ramp with Monroe Street, just west of the Shops at South Town. Crews will then rebuild the street over the underpass, she added.
The 183 foot-long underpass will be the first of its kind in Utah, a UDOT news release stated. It will measure 40 feet wide and 22 feet high — which is twice as wide as New York City's Lincoln Tunnel and tall enough for a double-decker bus to pass through with several feet to spare.
REMINDER: Full road closure of 10600 South Interchange September 8-25; Use alternative routes #Travelwise#PlanAhead@UDOTRegionTwopic.twitter.com/4nu7TtCTjk
— Utah DOT (@UtahDOT) September 6, 2017
While the interchange is scheduled to reopen on Sept. 25, the new underpass will remain closed for several months as workers install pavement and build the connection to the existing northbound off-ramp, the release stated. The new underpass will connect with a smaller underpass that is already in place on the north side of 10600 South.
Once completed, the underpass is expected to handle approximately 4,800 vehicles daily while providing easier access to downtown Sandy, as well as reducing traffic jams along 10600 South, Zundel said.
"It should help alleviate congestion between I-15 and State Street on 106th South, as well as service all of the development that Sandy city has going on in their central business district," she said.
