UDOT gets an extra $60M to finish US 89 rebuild

LAYTON — UDOT will receive an additional $60 million to finish a rebuild of U.S. Highway 89 through Layton, the agency said Monday.

Planners budgeted nearly half a billion dollars for the U.S. 89 rebuild project from Kaysville and Fruit Heights through Layton, when the Utah Department of Transportation asked for an extra $60 million to complete the final stretch. The Utah Transportation Commission approved the request at its meeting last week.

Driver feedback leads to more money

The section of U.S. 89 from S.R. 193 in north Layton to Interstate 84 had been left out of the plan because of budget constraints, but Zach Whitney with UDOT says people were concerned about finishing the entire project.

"This was honestly a direct result of that feedback; a direct result of people asking when we were going to address that area," Whitney told KSL NewsRadio.

Including the final stretch of the project is also important to state Sen. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, who says he's worked for years to get the project done.

"The highway is probably most impactful to those who are in South Ogden," Adams said. "And those who are in Morgan. Morgan County is exploding."

Adams pointed out that the state of Utah has funded and built several other projects of similar and even larger scale in northern Utah County and on the Mountain View Corridor in southwest Salt Lake County in the past few years. His concern about U.S. 89 through Layton is one of the issues that got him involved in politics years ago.

Work continues on US 89 rebuild

In the meantime, work is moving ahead on the U.S. 89 rebuild, with three interchanges in the Kaysville and Fruit Heights area nearly finished.

"They're doing a lot of the paving work right now," Whitney said. "We anticipate that those interchanges are going to be open this summer."

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