A road construction project that first caused traffic delays in March 2022 and was supposed to end last October still has more work ahead.
The Utah Department of Transportation still plans to repair one of the bridges that pass over the Provo River at the entrance to the Heber Valley. It completed repairs on the other bridge last year. Also still on the to-do list, crews will restore a roughly two-mile stretch of pavement.
UDOT Communications Manager Geoff Dupaix says it’ll take about three months, and the start date depends on when the snow piled around the roads melts.
“Our goal is to hopefully start construction around that April-May timeframe and be complete during the middle of the summer,” Dupaix says. “It's really going to be contingent upon what Mother Nature throws at us over the next couple of months.”
He says downhill traffic moving toward Heber City will be restricted to one lane. As drivers experienced last year, that means more time in the car to commute from Park City to Heber.
“We will have delays for that three-month period once we start that bridge work, and so we're anticipating 15-to-20 minute travel delays for the afternoon commute, but we're going to try to minimize those as much as we can,” Dupaix says. “A great thing to do is for drivers to adjust their travel times. So, try to give yourself some extra time to get home or to get to your destination. That extra time will really help reduce the level of frustration or inconvenience that a lot of drivers experienced last year.”
He guesses the earliest the delays will begin is March, and May is the latest.
Last summer, Dupaix said the Highway 40 project didn’t wrap up by its intended October end date because UDOT couldn’t get enough concrete.
There's also a new speed limit near that area. Past the construction zone on Highway 40 before it becomes Heber City Main Street, there’s a new 45-mile-an-hour speed limit zone. With new developments expected in the area, the idea is to slow drivers between River Road and downtown Heber.
“With the projected increase in traffic volume coming into that area, really about a half-mile north or so of [800 North], that is where we start to transition so that by the time that you get into the downtown area, you’re back at the current posted 35-mile-an-hour speed limit that you have.”
He said as homes and businesses are built east of the highway over the next decade, UDOT will continue to study how fast people should drive there.
