Utah 25, December 4, 2022

Officials

The Utah Department of Transportation announced in November that a new U.S. 89 interchange at Antelope Drive in Layton is now open. Crews members working for UDOT, as well as local officials, celebrated the construction milestone.

This highway project is the second largest currently under construction in Utah. It includes the reconstruction and widening of a 9-mi. section of the highway, along with building the four new interchanges. A new frontage road system also was created parallel to U.S. 89 to improve access to local neighborhoods and provide a safer route for cyclists. In addition, three new pedestrian tunnels have been built under the highway to connect to future city and county trail expansions.

This interchange provides a new crossing over U.S. 89 to connect neighborhoods on both sides of the highway and will help traffic flow more safely and smoothly. This phase of construction was part of the U.S 89, Farmington to I-84 project.

Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, Rep. Stephen Handy and Layton Mayor Joy Petro, along with Oak Hills Constructors (joint venture of Granite Construction and Ralph L. Wadsworth) and Layton city officials, joined UDOT Executive Director Carlos Braceras to commemorate the opening of the new interchange. It is the fourth and final new interchange built as part of the current U.S. 89 reconstruction in eastern Davis County. Interchanges at 400 North in Fruit Heights and Oak Hills Drive and Gordon Avenue in Layton opened last year.

“Our projects are being built to improve our transportation system for all users, whether they’re in a car, on a bike, riding a motorcycle or using a wheelchair,” Braceras said. “This new interchange will help everyone in this area get where they want to go more safely and efficiently than they could before.”

Work on the U.S. 89 project continues with construction of new bridges at Nicholls Road in Fruit Heights and Crestwood Road in Layton, along with final paving of the highway and completion of sign, sidewalk and driveway

The project includes the reconstruction and widening of a 9-mi. section of U.S. 89, along with building the four new interchanges.

installation. Construction on the project is scheduled for completion in late 2023.

Project Neccesity

The U.S. 89 project improves safety and mobility on U.S. 89 and at connections with local cross streets by:

• Widening U.S. 89 to three lanes in each direction from Main Street in Farmington to State Route 193 in Layton;

• Adding interchanges — bridges over U.S. 89 with on/off ramps — at 200 North/400 North, Oak Hills Drive, Gordon Avenue and Antelope Drive.

This highway project is the second-largest currently under construction in Utah.

Univ. of Utah Breaks Ground On $185M Medical Facility

The University of Utah recently broke ground on the new home for its Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine. The $185 million facility has been made possible, in part, by funds from a landmark gift of $110 million from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation. The gift provides support not only for the building, but also medical education programs and cardiovascular research.

The new 185,000-sq.-ft. building will become the hub of the University of Utah’s nationally recognized health sciences campus. Once open, the facilities will accelerate the school’s ability to provide the highest quality medical education, advanced research and patient care, while the added support from the foundations’ dramatically increases the school’s endowment and powers critical research.

The new 185,000-sq.-ft. building will become the hub of the University of Utah’s nationally recognized health sciences campus.

Construction of the U’s new medical education building was approved by the Utah State Legislature in 2017 with a $50 million commitment and an additional $60 million appropriation was approved earlier this year. More than $50 million in added philanthropic pledges for the project have also been secured. Completion of the project is expected in 2025.

“The incredible impact of the University of Utah’s health sciences program in education, research and care across the Intermountain West is a source of great pride for the entire state,” said Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox. “This new facility will make a major difference in our ability to address the growing need for top-tier doctors in the state, especially in our rural areas.”

“I have long believed that no state or region can become truly great without a world-class medical center at its nucleus,” said Spencer F. Eccles, namesake of the school and chairman, CEO of both the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation. “We hope this seminal grant — the largest ever awarded by our foundations — will help ensure the University not only provides the highest quality medical education for the doctors who serve Utah and the entire Intermountain West, but also furthers the excellence of health care for all our citizens and impacts the future of medicine through its groundbreaking research.”

Plans for the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine building are focused in three major areas:

Global Health: With significant funding from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, the building’s Global Health Pavilion will enable faculty and students to

expand their innovative efforts to provide health care to more people in need, both within and beyond the boundaries of the U.S. It will provide a central hub for many global health-focused groups that are currently scattered throughout the U campus, enabling groups to continue to improve the quality of healthcare in less-developed areas.

Core Medical Education (Core Med): Intermountain Healthcare has awarded a grant for the building’s core medical education spaces, including adaptive classrooms that are increasingly important as medical curriculum changes over time. The building will also include a new advanced simulation center and anatomy lab.

Collaboration Spaces: Nearly 15 percent of the building will be “common areas,” designed to foster collaboration among students, faculty and the state’s medical community. It will house the school’s Center for Interprofessional Experiential Learning, weaving important interaction between working medical professionals, students, and faculty into medical education.

“This building is being designed to advance innovation in medical education,” said Sara M. Lamb, vice dean of medical education of the University of Utah. “It will enable us to continue to be a “proving ground” in educating top-flite medical students who will carry medical sciences and patient care forward. The solutions created at this school and the generosity that made it possible will not only improve health outcomes, but also extend lives and improve the quality of life for countless individuals and families.”

University of Utah Health is the only academic medical center in the Mountain West, providing patient care for nearly 10 percent of the geographic area of the continental

focused on cardiovascular science and heart disease. These resources will allow the medical school to continue developing innovations in healthcare delivery (especially for rural and underserved populations), advances in teaching models and timelines, and, eventually, make future increases in the size of the medical school class while also attracting more diverse faculty and students.

“Thanks to this extraordinary grant – and now the construction of the new medical education building it is helping fund — others in our community are also coming together to shape the future of healthcare in Utah,” said University of Utah Health CEO Michael L. Good. “With significant investments in Global Health, Population Health, Genomics, Simulation, Discovery and more, this is a true turning point for our institution to impact Utah, the Mountain West, and the U.S.”

Photo courtesy of University of Utah

The $185 million facility has been made possible, in part, by funds from a landmark gift of $110 million from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation.

U.S. The construction of the medical education building is expected to drive the most critical evolution in the medical school’s history and be used across three primary areas: education, research and clinical care.

“The University of Utah is fortunate to have benefitted for many decades from the visionary leadership of the Eccles family,” said University of Utah President Taylor Randall. “This iconic new building anchoring our University Health campus, reflects the remarkable, generous legacy of the Eccles Family and foundations that spans more than 70 years at the U. Their remarkable gift is already enabling our Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine to move further forward as a world-class integrated academic medical institution.”

The Eccles Foundations' gift of $110 million includes the new medical education building; endowed funds which will enrich student scholarships, recruitment of topflight faculty, and innovative medical education programs; and research funding,

“This transformational gift sets the course for the future of medical education at the University,” Good added. “It has advanced significantly in recent decades as new discoveries and technologies emerge. At the same time, the state of Utah is experiencing a need for more physicians, particularly in rural areas. This gift presents a unique opportunity: we will provide the most advanced education to raise new generations of health care professionals who will, in turn, improve health for our state and region. Our newly named school will join the ranks of the nation's preeminent named institutions. We will not just adapt to the future of medicine — we will define it.”

The Eccles family and associated charitable foundations have invested vital resources in the University of Utah's medical school, patient care facilities, research programs and allied health and wellness programs for more than five decades in areas spanning cardiovascular and genetics research, nursing, ophthalmology, orthopedics, pharmacology, critical care and more. Among the highlights are the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Critical Care Pavilion at University Hospital; the Spencer F. and Cleone P. Eccles Health Sciences Education Building; the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute; the Emma Eccles Jones Research Building; and the George and Dolores Eccles Institute of Human Genetics, among others. 

Photo courtesy of Twitter/Kathy Wilets

New U.S. 89 Interchange Marks Construction Milestone

PROJECT from page 1

The project also improved connections between U.S. 89 and Main Street, S.R. 193 and Interstate 84. Some sections of road were constructed to improve access to existing frontage roads and local streets. This will help local traffic access the new interchanges and cross efficiently. The frontage roads will include shared shoulders that will also function as a parallel bicycle route.

“We like to say we're building the right project for this area, designed to meet the needs of the community now and in the future," said Michael Romero, U.S. 89 project director, during construction phases of the project.” “Adding the third lane in each direction on U.S. 89, along with eliminating all at-grade intersections, will allow traffic to flow much more smoothly and safely through 2040. The new frontage road system and Gordon Avenue extension, along with the new interchange bridges [and two additional bridges over the highway at Nicholls Road and Crestwood Road] will make it easier for local residents to get around their neighborhoods as well as easier to get on the highway. The new Gordon Avenue interchange and road extension is being planned and built in partnership with the city of Layton to allow for future economic development, including a new planned ‘town center.’ Finally, the new pavement will extend the life of the road surface and provide a better ride for drivers.”

Over the last two years, the U.S. 89 project team worked to relocate more than 150 mi. of utilities across the corridor, earthwork was performed as crews began creating the new drainage ponds, highway ramps and east side frontage road alignment. 

(All photos courtesy of UDOT.)

Utah officials recently celebrated the completion and opening of the new U.S. 89 interchange at Antelope Drive in Layton, part of the Utah Department of Transportation U.S 89 Farmington to I-84 project. Oak Hills Constructors, a joint venture of Granite Construction and Ralph L. Wadsworth, served as the general contractor.

Work on the U.S. 89 project continues with construction of new bridges at Nicholls Road in Fruit Heights and Crestwood Road in Layton.

Remaining work includes paving of the highway and completion of sign, sidewalk and driveway installation, which will be completed in 2023.

Officials Approve Contractor...

Sletten to Perform Purgatory Correctional Facility Upgrades

After several months of work and consulta tion, the Washington County Commission is moving ahead with a much-needed expansion at the Purgatory Correctional Facility.

The commission recently approved a contract with the Sletten Construction Company for three projects at the county jail. This includes the building of a new pod with dedicated mental health and medical facilities, as well as a remodel of the jail’s booking area.

“Essentially, we’re going to be adding a new wing to the Purgatory Correctional Facility — specifically for medical and mental health,” Washington County Sheriff Nate Brooksby told the commission. “Inmates that are detoxing from drugs and alcohol, or those with mental health issues, those individuals are typically brought into our booking area so our medical staff and licensed clinical social workers have close prox imity to them.”

However, the situation at the jail was complicated by the pandemic when inmates became sick with COVID-19 in 2020. Beds were quickly taken up with the sick and left the jail “bursting at the seams,” Brooksby said.

This necessitated a need for more space, which resulted in the recent approval of the construction contract. Plans call for a pod with 32 cells, most of which will be “doublebunked.” This will provide up to 60 new beds for the jail.

The new wing will provide a better space for inmates in the throes of detoxing or suffering mental health issues, Brooksby said.

“We have to keep a very close eye on them,” the sheriff told St. George News following the commission meeting. “We have to have medical staff engaging with them on a reg ular basis, whether it’s vitals or doing screenings for mental health. And so those types of inmates come in and they’re

Millard County, DWR Pair Up On Debris Basin Project

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources partnered with Millard County officials to authorize construction of several debris basins in an effort to prevent debris flows and possible flooding damage after the Halfway Hill Fire in Millard County earli er this year.

In July, the human-caused Halfway Hill Fire burned 11,701 acres, part of which occurred on the Halfway Hill unit of the Fillmore Wildlife Management Area. The 17,493-acre WMA provides crucial winter range habitat for big game in the area.

“Fires of this magnitude often result in significant flash floods and debris flows when rain falls within the fire footprint,” DWR Regional Wildlife Habitat Manager Gary Bezzant said. “This threat can remain for multiple years following a fire.”

The Millard County Road Department also recognized this potential threat and began seeking locations to construct mul tiple debris basins in hopes of preventing catastrophic flooding and damage to roads in the area. Debris basins are used to cap

ture sediment, gravel, boulders and vege tative debris that are washed down canyons during storms, but they still allow water to flow downstream. After failing to secure permission on other properties, the county contacted the DWR to pursue con struction of the basins on the WMA.

“As a commissioner of Millard County, we’re grateful that the DWR understood what we needed to do and they said ‘go ahead,’ and I appreciate that,” Millard County Commissioner Bill Wright said. “We have a lot of small cities in Millard County that don’t have the needed funding to pay for something like this, so the county has been proactive to step in and help. The construc tion of these basins is a win-win for all par ties involved. The county was able to safe guard its citizens as economically as possi ble, and the resulting basins will also provide water to local wildlife.”

Within 24 hours of the request, the DWR was able to provide authorization to con struct two debris basins. Work began shortly after, and within one week, both basins were finished and ready for use. 

putting them in the booking area [for] its close proximity. They’re checked on every 15 minutes by a deputy or medical staff. So high-demand inmates. But that space is very limited in booking right now. So with this medical expansion, it’s really going to give us a lot more wiggle room for those types of inmates.”

Along with the expansion, work on the book ing area of the jail will add additional space for inmates and office space for county employees.

In addition to the increased space, Commissioner Gil Almquist said it also will allow sick inmates to be isolated in the case of future outbreaks, enhancing the well-being of not only the inmate population but also the Sheriff’s deputies and jail staff in general.

“The extra space will really help out,” Brooksby said.

The County Commission is using money from the American Rescue Plan Act to fund the expan sion of the county jail. If that weren’t available, Washington County Administrator Nichole Felshaw said the county would have needed a bond for the expansion.

The expansion is estimated to run $12-to-$14 million with ground potentially being broken sometime next spring, Brooksby said.

Once underway, construction is slated to last around two years. 

Google Maps photo

Construction upgrades include building of a new pod with dedicated men tal health and medical facilities, as well as a remodel of the jail’s booking area.