For Tooele County commuters curious about the Utah Department of Transportation’s bridge construction projects on Interstate 80 — hurry up and wait.
Neither the overpass bridge at Exit 99 on I-80, nor the two railroad overpass bridges near Black Rock, will be completed this calendar year, according to UDOT spokesman Tim Beery. The $30 million project began this spring.
The overpass bridge project, which has appeared inactive for several weeks, is in the settlement phase, Beery said. There will be additional work on the project this fall, but isn’t expected to be finished until late spring or early summer in 2019.
In April, a single lane was closed on westbound Exit 99 during construction. There were single lane closures in both directions of I-80 on the Black Rock bridges, which began on May 30, to patch the bridge decks and fill potholes.
The reconstruction project on the Black Rock bridges, which run over Union Pacific railroad lines, is still in the design phase, according to Beery. He said the project team is reviewing alternative designs and their projected impact on traffic.
The original design for the railroad overpass bridges called for the two bridges to be constructed adjacent to the existing structures. The existing bridges would be demolished and the new bridges would be slid into place, one at a time.
Traffic on I-80 would be restricted to a single lane in both directions for 23 days for each bridge, as it is demolished and replaced. Beery said the UDOT team on the bridge project is looking at two alternatives, including the construction of a temporary bridge to maintain both lanes throughout construction.
A decision on the final design of the bridge project is expected within a couple of weeks, Beery said. Construction work on the railroad overpass bridges is expected to begin next spring, with an anticipated completion in late summer or early fall, he said.