what is with the I-15 construction?

[sixstringsteve]

I've never lived in a place where they have freeway construction for 20 straight miles. From point of the mountain all the way down to payson it's under construction (don't get me started on SR92). It seems to me that they like to start a million projects and drag 'em all out for two years instead of starting one project and finishing it before moving to the next.

I've never worked construction, and I'm clueless as to why it's done this way. Maybe there's a logical explanation that I haven't seen. My wife avoids the freeway south of thanksgiving point because she doesn't feel safe driving on shifting lanes that aren't marked well. I don't anticipate the freeway being done before snowfall, and that just seems even more dangerous.

Why is it that they start so many projects at once?

 

[Caleb]

I was ready to kill someone up AFC today. It's ridiculous trying to get up the canyon...so I decided to head down the Alpine Loop and avoid it only to be stopped for 30 minutes for construction. I ended up putting my truck in park and turning it off and just enjoyed the river. I-15 in Utah County is absolutely insane...especially trying to tow a 35ft camp trailer through there.

 

[krany]

.especially trying to tow a 35ft camp trailer through there.

whenever i drive that stretch of free way iam allways terrified to drive next to semi trucks, the way the lanes are setup it makes them almost have to come into different lanes. i either floor it to pass them or brake and stay behind them, there is not a chance you will catch me next to one for very long.

 

[Cherokeester]

There are so many projects all at once because they are all part of Obamas infrastructure job stimulus. The states have to spend the money or they don't get the money, something like that anyway. There is road construction all over the US. It is maddening if you are driving a lot, that is for sure.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Two seasons in Utah... winter and road construction. Given the late/wet spring this year some construction projects had to be delayed until summer, aka construction season.

 

[jmaxj]

I was ready to kill someone up AFC today. It's ridiculous trying to get up the canyon...so I decided to head down the Alpine Loop and avoid it only to be stopped for 30 minutes for construction. I ended up putting my truck in park and turning it off and just enjoyed the river. I-15 in Utah County is absolutely insane...especially trying to tow a 35ft camp trailer through there.

thats why i swerve all over when i'm towing anything through there, i make my own lil bubble. since it seems like no one in utah county knows how to drive, i scare them away from me.

plus its kinda fun too

 

[Hickey]

whenever i drive that stretch of free way iam allways terrified to drive next to semi trucks, the way the lanes are setup it makes them almost have to come into different lanes. i either floor it to pass them or brake and stay behind them, there is not a chance you will catch me next to one for very long.

As a truckdriver, I thank you for doing exactly what I wish everyone would. I just want people to get the hell away from me. My speed and acceleration is quite limited. On the flip side, I fully admit that there are a lot of dumbass truckdrivers. You should stay away from them too.

 

[Stephen]

Good god do I hate I-15 through Utah County. Can someone install a teleporter at point of the mountain that has an end point at Payson? Please?

 

[roverrocks]

All this is why I moved out of northern Utah 20 years ago to a quieter life in western Colorado but unfortunately we have our own road construction crapola going on and most of it makes little sense especially the ridiculous and dangerous roundabouts being built to annoy us all.

 

[RockMonkey]

I drive through Utah country nearly every day and really haven't been that bothered by the construction. It's nowhere near as bad as the pre-Olympics construction was.

 

[TJDukit]

All this is why I moved out of northern Utah 20 years ago to a quieter life in western Colorado but unfortunately we have our own road construction crapola going on and most of it makes little sense especially the ridiculous and dangerous roundabouts being built to annoy us all.

Roundabouts are great IF they are designed well and IF people know how to use them properly. I can say for certain that most people in the states just don't know how to use them properly and we should have probably stayed away from them.

Driving in Germany for two years got me to really love them but people over there actually know how to use them properly.

As far as stupid construction goes, I've got a street by my house I have to drive down everyday and I swear it's like driving down a washboard dirt road. Right now they have half of it torn up which happens to be the good side of the road and it looks to me like all they are doing is putting in new sewage lines so my hopes for them actually fixing this road does not look good.

 

[I Lean]

I-15 through Utah County broke my boat trailer. It bothered me. There are some REALLY rough spots in there.

 

[Herzog]

I-15 through Utah County broke my boat trailer. It bothered me. There are some REALLY rough spots in there.

I'm still waiting to change one side of ball joints. I refuse to do it and have them destroyed within a month of driving that highway.

Still holding Milner's tool hostage.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Ah, I get it now. All that construction stimulates the economy by giving auto-repair and collision shops more business. It all makes sense now.

 

[Spork]

Ah, I get it now. All that construction stimulates the economy by giving auto-repair and collision shops more business. It all makes sense now.

Hmmm I just thought it was because they didn't have a location big enough to hold all the orange barrels so they spread them out along I-15 to save on storage costs.

 

[larrybenny]

One only has to look at the way our legislature runs this state to know why the road const. is the way it is. It has always been a problem, at least the last 30 years since I've been here. I'm originally from Calif. and watched them build a 60 mi. 8 lane freeway start to finish in 9 mo. and not have to do it over again because faulty materials were used from the "lowest bidder". However I love Utah and try not to focus on the way that brain dead law makers run it.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

One only has to look at the way our legislature runs this state to know why the road const. is the way it is. It has always been a problem, at least the last 30 years since I've been here. I'm originally from Calif. and watched them build a 60 mi. 8 lane freeway start to finish in 9 mo. and not have to do it over again because faulty materials were used from the "lowest bidder". However I love Utah and try not to focus on the way that brain dead law makers run it.

What part of California? I'm assuming warm & sunny without the damage of snow-plows, salt and ice?

 

[sixstringsteve]

Hmmm I just thought it was because they didn't have a location big enough to hold all the orange barrels so they spread them out along I-15 to save on storage costs.

that's gotta be it too. I wonder how many millions of orange barrels/cones the state of Utah has.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I'm originally from Calif. and watched them build a 60 mi. 8 lane freeway start to finish in 9 mo. and not have to do it over again because faulty materials were used from the "lowest bidder". However I love Utah and try not to focus on the way that brain dead law makers run it.

I'm from CA too, and maybe that's why this construction is so surprising to me. We were up in the bay area, so we had a really mild climate, so the roads lasted forever. Roads were well marked and painted. There were street lights on most roads, and there were far more street signs (speed limit signs, freeway exit signs, signs that told you what lanes did what at the stoplight, etc). The weather, the drivers, the road/freeway layout, and the people are the only things I miss from CA. I'm so glad to be here in utah, it's just tough to see road construction drag on for years where it would have taken months in CA.

 

[larrybenny]

No matter what it is still worth it to live here in Utah, even though it is warm and sunny, you have to travel a long way in Calif. to get to areas we have within an hour or so. I was from San Bernardino, and the Long Beach area in Calif. I don't miss the smog and congestion. I mainly came up here to snow ski, however that ended after being hit two times on a street bike.