Oak Hills Constructors Rebuilds U.S. 89 With Upgrades

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• Constructed a total of six new bridges crossing the highway at the four interchanges and at Nicholls Road in Fruit Heights and Crestwood Road in Kaysville to improve connections between communities.

• Added a new right-turn lane from eastbound I-84 to southbound U.S. 89 that allows drivers to continue through the intersection without stopping, and extended the on-ramp entrance for drivers traveling on northbound US-89 to eastbound I-84.

• Extended Gordon Avenue to create a new east-west connection from I-15 to US-89 and accommodate Layton City’s plans for a future town center.

• Installed three new pedestrian tunnels to enable future city and county trail expansions, and built a new multi-use trail to connect the South Weber frontage road to Valley View Drive.

“With this project, we set out to improve our transportation system for everyone, whether they’re in a car, on a bike, riding a motorcycle, walking or using a wheelchair,” Wight said. “This newly upgraded highway will help everyone in this area get where they want to go more safely and efficiently than they could before.”

Input from the community and local cities was incorporated throughout design and construction, from determining whether US-89 would cross under or over local streets to selecting the aesthetics for the bridges over the highway.

Project Challenges

“The most challenging aspect of this project, by a long shot, has been the relocation of existing utilities,” said Michael Romero, U.S. 89 project director. “There are more than 150 miles of utilities in our project area. Originally, U.S. 89 was envisioned as crossing over the local streets, but based on public input we changed the design, and now U.S. 89 crosses under local streets. This change added a ton of complexity to the design.

“Another main challenge is maintaining access to the local communities while we rebuild the highway,” Romero added. “Our contractor had a complex phasing plan that kept all existing lanes open on U.S. 89 during weekdays, limiting most lane closures to nights and weekends and keeps local streets open.” 

(All photos courtesy of UDOT.)

Four Corners

2023