An Evolving Expansion Worth the Wait

As far back as a century of planning, a massive roadway project in Utah comes to fruition to accommodate the growing area.

By Kim Singletary

In 2011 the population in Utah reached 2.9 million and is considered one of the fastest growing states in the country, Utah's annual population growth is estimated at 29.6 percent – more than double the national average of 13.2 percent.

About half that of the entire state's population — about 1.2 million — is concentrated in the Salt Lake area – an area that spans across 756 square miles and includes the capitol city of Salt Lake City. With all of this constant growth, it's not surprising that infrastructure improvements are a constant issue, but in late 2008 the state undertook one of its biggest endeavors to date: the 11400 South Project.

Located south of Salt Lake City, 11400 South is a roadway that runs east / west connecting Interstate 15 and Bangerter Highway — both heavily traveled thoroughfares. Reaching across 4.5 miles, the road runs through the cities of South Jordan, Riverton and Draper and, until recently, was one of the most rural roads in the area — running one lane in each direction, with no lighting, drainage or sidewalks.

"If you drove through 11400 South, it literally looked like civilization had never hit that section of Salt Lake," explained Oanh Le-Spradlin, Utah Department of Transit (UDOT) project manager.

"It was an undertaking everyone saw coming," said Le- Spradlin, in fact, design ideas to improve the road began as far back as the early 1900s. A century later, prior to Salt Lake City's hosting of the 2002 Winter Olympics, city officials looked at tackling the project, only to be postponed by funding and environmental issues.

Finally, in 2008, everything came together, but by then the list of needs had grown. "In the scope of state projects, this definitely qualifies as a mega project," said Le-Spradlin. "In order to save time and money, we actually incorporated three separate projects into one."

The first phase of the project was to build a new I-15 interchange. The second phase was to provide a muchneeded connection between two areas of the road, and the third was to widen 11400 South on the west side from two lanes to five. Additionally, the project included the addition of shoulders, a bike lane, sidewalks, curbs, gutters and medians, a new traffic and pedestrian walkways across the Jordan River, improvements to a nearby trail, a bridge for the Union Pacific Railway, intersection improvements such as upgraded traffic signals and dedicated turn lanes and numerous aesthetic landscaping additions.

The pure size of the project presented multiple challenges. This 4.5 mile stretch of road managed to impact every type of stakeholder, from home owners, to commercial, to farmland, to hospitals, to multiple city governments to every kind of utility possible – including the Union Pacific Railroad, UDOT's own railway, seven canals, a storm river that fed the state's water facility and electrical power and gas.

"You name it, and they were there," said Le-Spradlin, who emphasized that communication was vital to the success of the project. "One of our most effective solutions was definitely our efforts to create public involvement," she said. "From the time we began the environmental documentation for the project in the early 1990s we created a group of approximately 15 people that represented all the public stakeholders. The group was called the T.I.E. – Transformation Idea Exchange – committee. The idea was to use this group to get lots of input on the project.

"Since the project was for them, we wanted the public to have a sense of ownership in it," said Adan Carrillo, UDOT Public Information Officer. "It worked. They had input on everything – from the landscaping to the murals, to the colors of the walls and bridge. Plus, they got to vote on the performance of the contractors involved in the project and, based on their feedback, the contractors were then awarded their incentives. It really kept everyone accountable."

In order to optimize communication among the myriad of utilities and other crucial stakeholders, Le-Spradlin noted that location was everything. "Everyone that was critical to the project was housed in one remote location. We had team meetings every day. There was absolutely no waiting to resolve any challenges."

Another way the state saved both time and money on 11400 South was to make it a design-to-build project. "As soon as we had enough design for certain portions of the project, we started building simultaneously," said Ernie Green, project manager with A&W Highway Contractors, a joint venture with Ames Construction and Wadsworth Brothers. A&W Highway Contractors was responsible for both the design and construction of the project.

"There was a big need for another east / west connector in the valley and this road didn't originally go all the way through." Green explained. "So it gave a fairly large section of the area access to the I-15 without having to travel much farther on the freeway. It also widened an already active freeway which benefited the commuters."

Green agreed that the wide array of stakeholders was an issue. "The biggest challenges were pertaining right-away — acquiring property for the project," he said. "It went through a lot of people's front yards and we had to work with the state. Utility relocations were also a big challenge."

Green noted that maintaining traffic during such a large and lengthy endeavor was also a challenge. "We did temporary widening on the I-15 in order to maintain the traffic. We built the project in three phases, and in doing so, we could keep the required lanes open," he continued. We built the northbound lanes first then we did the southbound lanes then we did the middle - a pretty common technique for widening a major highway."

Currently the 11400 South project is 98 percent complete. All roadways are open to traffic, with only a few minor tasks remaining. Looking over what Le-Spradlin called "a long and challenging journey to complete a muchneeded project," she notes the pride that both UDOT and its contractors felt in the finished project.

"This roadway will serve the people of Utah well for many years to come," she said. "Whether or not the adjacent stakeholders see a benefit can be seen by the congestion that has been relieved through this area of the valley due to this new alternative. Local residents have given us praise on how well the area now looks, how accommodating it is to all modes of transportation, how the new interchange has benefitted their business and how well the road rides."

In the end, Le-Spradlin said all of the challenges of this mega project made the reward even sweeter. "A schedule reviewer recently told me, 'I don't know how you guys finished it under the amount of challenges you faced.' My first thought was teamwork and everyone's collective drive to overcome odds. My first emotion was pride, which was followed by the realization that it was all worthwhile."

Kim Singletary is Editor-at-Large for American Infrastructure. She may be contacted at ksingletary@penpubinc.com