Road resurfacing begins in downtown Salt Lake City
Aug 17, 2023, 7:09 PM | Updated: 10:10 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — Driving downtown Salt Lake City lately it may feel like every few blocks you run into a sign that says the road is closed.
That’s because every year Salt Lake City resurfaces 150 lane miles in the city, a cost-effective treatment to prolong the lifespan of a street.
“It can keep doing the surface treatments at the right points and you can kind of keep bringing it back up without completely deteriorating. It’s just preventative maintenance,” Jon Larsen, director of Salt Lake City’s transportation division said. “So we’re getting to it before it gets too bad.”
Just as you may be using side streets more often to drop off the kids at school, the closures ramp up, but it’s for a reason.
“When you’re spreading the oil over the top of the pavement, if it rains all the oil, instead of staying on the street it runs into the gutter and we definitely don’t want that. This spring was pretty rainy so the crews have been getting a bit of a later start,” Larsen said.
At 500 East and 400 East the city is taking advantage of having a blank slate on the roads by adding more bike lanes.
“The city has been adding a lot of high comfort bike infrastructure and there’s been a cultural shift as far as people wanting more active healthy options and more sustainable transportation options. And people combined with the e-bike boom, we are seeing a lot more people out biking,” Larsen added.
The city asked for patience as the streets will be completed, along with the addition of those new bike lanes, in the coming weeks.
