Contractor begins construction on Pioneer Crossing

Contractor begins construction on Pioneer Crossing
Cathy Allred - North County staff

Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs residents can breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Work began Tuesday on an alternative east-west route for motorists to get in and out of those cities and to access Interstate 15. Ground-breaking for the Pioneer Crossing project was held Tuesday afternoon.
The six-mile-long expressway project has been put on the fast track for completion, with 90 percent of the arterial expected to be finished by November.

"They will have this opened up to the Mill Pond Road," said Bryan Adams, Access Utah County director. "So you'll be able to go to the American Fork interchange or the Lehi interchange."

The second phase of the project from Lehi's 850 East to I-15 on American Fork's Main Street will be completed by fall 2010.

"I think it's great. I think it's long overdue," said American Fork Mayor Heber Thompson. "It helps significantly relieve the congestion on Lehi Main Street which all of us have experienced."

The Utah Department of Transportation has contracted Kiewit and W.W. Clyde and Co. for the $260 million project, which includes the I-15 diverging diamond interchange, the first of its kind in Utah. The design involves a major east-west artery that crisscrosses over the freeway with only two signals and a free flow of traffic on and off the freeway. The DDI interchange will replace the American Fork Main Street interchange.