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PARLEYS CANYON — At the mouth of Parleys Canyon on I-80, the Utah Department of Transportation is starting work on one of its biggest projects of the summer. It will replace a 2-mile section of massive pipe that carries Parleys Creek under the interstate.
Maintaining the road in the steep canyon is never easy; replacing a culvert deep under the road with 46,000 cars passing by every day makes it that much more challenging. But UDOT officials say the new pipe should outlast all of us.
The old pipe that carries the creek water — 30 to 40 feet below the freeway in places — is failing, UDOT says.
"(It's) over 50 years old right now, and many sections of the pipe are deteriorated quite substantially," said Tim Rose, UDOT's Region 2 deputy director.
Over the next five months, UDOT will spend $9.5 million to replace that culvert.
"It will be off the side of the road, so it will be easier to clean and service, and those kinds of things," Rose said.
The new concrete pipe is being built at Geneva Pipe in Orem. Manufacturers say it should last a lot longer than the old corrugated metal pipe that's currently in the canyon. They are cranking out 18 sections of pipe a day, headed toward a total of 871 sections.
"Concrete pipe is the most sustainable product they can use. It has a 100-year service life, a proven 100-year service life," said Vince Bussio, president of Geneva Pipe.
To create the pipe, work crews at Geneva cast the 12-foot sections in vertical forms; metal caging inside adds strength. Bussio said they rigorously test the pipe to make sure it's up to standards.
"This pipe weights about 25,000 pounds each — so it's very, very heavy. And it has rubber gasket joints to make sure that we are not leaking the storm drain water out," he said.
The pipe needs to handle heavy run-off in the spring and keep that water off the road.
"That's what this is about: it's the safety of the roads and the safety of the people traveling down Parleys Canyon," Bussio said.
During construction, Rose said three lanes of traffic will be open at peak times, weekends, and for special events.
