Continued construction on westbound Interstate 80 near Jeremy Ranch that caused lengthy delays Monday has been postponed until next week, according to the Utah Department of Transportation.
UDOT Public Information Officer John Gleason told KPCW Monday’s work was to address an immediate safety issue due to water-damaged pavement that had softened and was deemed unsafe for motorists.
“The water that has gone under there had created some soft spots in the asphalt, and that’s never a good thing when you have freeway speeds on the highway out there,” Gleason said. “It’s something we wanted to get addressed right away.”
Two westbound lanes of Interstate 80 were closed on Monday near the Jeremy Ranch on-ramp in Summit County. Traffic was backed up on the Interstate between Jeremy Ranch and the highway 189 interchange at Silver Summit.
Construction was scheduled to resume on Tuesday, but UDOT Region Two, which covers Salt Lake, Summit, and Tooele Counties, announced on Twitter Tuesday morning that work had been postponed.
Gleason said the most immediate work had been addressed on Monday and in order to minimize future delays, construction is now scheduled to resume next Thursday night, June 17th.
“To address the water that’s been seeping in, we’ll be putting in the long-term drainage, and that’s what’s going to happen overnight starting next Thursday, so about nine days from now,” he said.
Gleason added next week’s construction is currently expected to last only one night, but more information on the work will become available if the situation changes.
