The West Davis Corridor opens Saturday for commuters

FARMINGTON — The wait is almost over for the West Davis Corridor, as the new highway will host commuters starting Saturday after a celebration at 10 a.m.

“This has been talked about since 1962 this project, in fact, I met President Adams 30 years ago, and we were talking about this project, and here we are today,” said Carlos Braceras, executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation.

Recras said the four-lane, 16-mile highway now runs from Interstate 15 near Glovers Lane in Farmington to the upcoming extension of state Route 193 in West Point.

“It will make people’s lives better. It will make transportation safer for so many people. This is something that will be able to connect northern Utah in ways that we haven’t been able to do so before,” he said.

West Davis Corridor set to open Saturday, six months ahead of schedule

UDOT crews predict that the new highway will cut I-15’s morning commute to Salt Lake City by 20 minutes. The same is expected for the evening drive back home.

“If it’s 15 minutes for 20,000 people every day, that adds up to a lot of time savings, cost savings, a lot of congestion, it’s moving those cars quicker back and forth,” Braceras said.

While it may seem like the wait was long, UDOT crews pounded the pavement quickly, allowing them to open the new highway several months earlier than expected.

“We worked together with cities to close roads for some periods of time, and the team did a great job of looking for opportunities to save time and money on this job,” Braceras said. “This is about the people, it about the people getting to and from homes and their work, and it is a big deal, and that’s why we do these projects is the savings and getting people where they need to go.”