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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Department of Transportation is in the midst of one of its biggest construction seasons ever. Construction crews will not work during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, but you may still run into delays in several construction zones.
On weekdays, traffic on Redwood Road creeps along from Bangerter Highway to Saratoga Springs. Road crews will add two new lanes in each direction with a center turn lane. It will be fantastic when it's finished, but it's nothing but congestion during construction.
That's one of three significant construction zones in Utah where you might get hung up this weekend. "You'll probably see some backups, maybe greater delays than on a normal weekend, because a lot more people will be out this holiday weekend," said UDOT spokesman Scott Thompson
Delays in those three construction zones might add 10 to 15 minutes to your drive.
On Interstate 84 in Weber Canyon, there is only one lane of traffic in each direction. Crews are replacing two bridges and improving the road surface.
On SR 201, from Bangerter to 5600 West, crews will add one lane in each direction. During construction, that reduces the number of lanes.
"We'll probably see more road construction this year than we have in a lot of years in the past," Thompson said.
Federal stimulus money and special state funding bulldozed the way for added projects to create and retain jobs. That should make it easier to endure any delays.
If you can, adjust your trip to avoid peak travel times. "Maybe leave an hour or two later or come back an hour or two earlier than you would; or if you have the luxury, stay over until Tuesday," Thompson said.
UDOT has 30 significant projects statewide. Of course, you could run into delays at any of them depending on the volume of traffic, but you should only see lane restrictions on the projects we highlighted.
If you really want to stay on top of construction delays, sign up to receive weekly text messages from UDOT by texting the word "UDOT" to 83043.
E-mail: jboal@ksl.com
