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LEHI, Utah (AP) -- State transportation officials have temporarily halted a road construction project after discovering a pair of red-tailed hawks have built a nest in its path.
The Pioneer Crossing project is a new east-west, multi-lane corridor from Saratoga Springs to south Lehi in Utah County. It's scheduled to open in late 2009.
Last week environmental monitors detected the hawk's nest in the construction area. The Utah Department of Transporation has installed a rope barricade that preserves an 800-foot perimeter around the nest site.
Division of Fish and Wildlife Services has been notified of the find.
UDOT Access Utah County director Bryan Adams said it is unclear if the nest contains a clutch of eggs or hatchlings, known as eyasses. Red-tail hawks typically lay between one and three eggs in March or April. It takes up to 35 days for eggs to hatch and eyasses typically begin to leave the nest for short flights between 42 and 46 days later.
"We don't know for absolute fact that there are birds in there, but the behavior of the birds suggests that there are eggs present," said Adams. "We haven't seen them so we don't know."
If eggs are present, UDOT expects to delay construction in the area until mid-July or early August.
"The good thing about this is it won't hurt the critical (construction)," Adams said. "We're still hopeful that we can maintain our same schedule. We'll have to reorganize our schedule a little bit."
The $250 million Pioneer Crossing is projected to improve east-west travel in the northwest part of the county and improve traffic flow at the Interstate 15 interchange in Lehi.
Adams said it's too soon to know whether protecting the nest would add any expense to the project.
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Information from: The Daily Herald
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
