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SALT LAKE CITY — Fall may be on the horizon, but Utah's capital city remains very much in the middle of construction season.
Salt Lake City transportation officials said Monday the 2100 South intersection at Highland Drive (1100 East) will be reduced to one lane in all directions in September, while there will be additional lane restrictions at 2100 South and 1300 East as crews replace aging roadway and infrastructure in Sugar House.
Drivers will be able to turn from southbound Highland Drive onto eastbound 2100 South, but all other left-hand turns will be closed as crews replace "deep" underground utilities and reconstruct the intersection as a part of the ongoing Highland Drive/1100 East reconstruction project, which began earlier this year.
There will be some "partial" night closures at the 1300 East intersection, too, as construction crews replace a century-old sewer line between Highland Drive and 1400 East. The project will also reduce 2100 South to one lane in each direction between 900 East and 1400 East.
All of the new traffic impacts are anticipated to continue through October.
In a statement, Lynn Jacobs, a Salt Lake City transportation project manager, explained that the city is "coinciding the impacts" of the two different projects in an effort "to reduce the overall time that traffic is impacted on 2100 South."
"Sugar House streets and utilities are aged and in need of replacement," he added.
The projects tack onto construction already happened in the area and what's to come:
- Salt Lake City began its project to improve Highland Drive/1100 East beginning with its section of Wilmington Avenue to Warnock Avenue earlier this year before crews began to gradually move north. The entire project includes 1100 East from 2100 South to Logan Avenue with construction next year, too.
- Utah Department of Transportation officials replaced the 1300 East bridge over I-80 earlier this year as a part of a completely different project led by the state. The city plans to repave the road from 2100 South to its boundary with Millcreek near 3300 South in 2024, as well.
- Crews will begin a project next year to redesign 2100 South from 700 East to 1300 East also in 2024.
- The 2100 South sewer project is slated to be extended out from 1400 East to Yuma Street next year before it wraps up.
The city projects for Highland Drive/1100 East, 1300 East and 2100 South are all funded by the city's "Funding Our Future" bond that voters passed in 2018 to help pay for major road repairs.
Sugar House Community Council Chairman Landon Clark said Monday the projects are a "long time coming and much needed for the future" of the neighborhood, which has blossomed with new businesses and residential units over the past decade.
But given all the construction happening in the area now and in the near future, which is impacting traffic, members of the Sugar House Community Council also issued a plea Monday for people to find ways to support local businesses during all of the construction.
"We understand the impacts these construction projects are going to have on the community and businesses," Clark added, in a statement. "Please be patient. ... Please keep supporting your Sugar House businesses. They are what makes Sugar House great. They will need all of us."
