Some Drivers Ignore Detours And Cause Damage In Summit County
Aug 2, 2018, 3:56 PM | Updated: 10:26 pm
PARK CITY, Utah – People who failed to follow a published detour during the closure of I-80 in Summit County created headaches Tuesday night.
The Utah Department of Transportation is building a wildlife overpass over I-80 between the East Canyon and Jeremy Ranch exits. While westbound lanes were closed Tuesday night, semi-trucks that failed to follow the published detour ended up in some challenging places.
“Just a lot of unfortunate situations because people chose not to abide by the directions given to them,” said Summit County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Andrew Wright.
Wright said signs were up for miles ahead of the closure advising drivers of alternate routes through Provo Canyon or I-84. Several semi-trucks, Wright said, continued on until the exits just before the closure seeking a more direct alternate route.
“One of them up in the Summit Park neighborhood took down a power pole. There were other semis that went up into the Jeremy Ranch neighborhood and unfortunately damaged one of our roundabouts. There were semis that continued up through the Jeremy Ranch neighborhood and tried to take a dirt road that’s not designed for semis,” Wright said.
One semi, Wright said, was hauling two trailers and had to unhitch both of them when the driver discovered the truck could not go any further on the dirt road.
The damaged power pole has been replaced.
Wright said UDOT stepped up their efforts to keep drivers on the published detours, and there were no issues reported Wednesday night.
Traffic is expected to be problematic again on Thursday starting at 8 p.m. when eastbound I-80 is scheduled to close between the Lamb’s Canyon and Jeremy Ranch exits.
Plan Ahead: EB I-80 will close tonight (8/2) at 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. tomorrow morning between Jeremy Ranch to East Canyon/SR-65. Semis to use listed alt. For more info, visit https://t.co/FQEbQyqXxK @UDOTRegionTwo @UtahDOT @UTHighwayPatrol @UtahTrucking @VisitParkCity @slcairport pic.twitter.com/8eojJJst52
— UDOT Traffic (@UDOTTRAFFIC) August 2, 2018
