‘Major’ impacts likely when west side road project begins in 2025, Salt Lake City warns
Dec 12, 2024, 1:34 PM | Updated: 1:47 pm
A rendering of what 600 North will look like near 900 West after a project to address problems with the roadway. Salt Lake City's 600/700 North improvement project will begin next year and continue into 2026. (Avenue Consultants via Salt Lake City)
(Avenue Consultants via Salt Lake City)
SALT LAKE CITY — With a complete overhaul of 200 South, 300 West, 900 South and 1100 East/Highland Drive now complete, along with a large chunk of 2100 South, Salt Lake City transportation officials say they’re targeting changes to another street where elevated safety concerns exist.
A full reconstruction of 600/700 North between 800 West and Redwood Road is in the works after nearly five years of planning. Construction will start next year, coinciding with work to replace the bridge over the Jordan River near 650 North, as the road switches from 600 to 700 North between the Rose Park and Fairpark neighborhoods.
It’s expected to create major traffic impacts for most of the next two years on a road that attracts over 21,000 vehicle trips every day.
“I think we’ve done a good job keeping it on folk’s radars over the last four years … and now is the time it becomes real, so we’re certainly trying to give people a heads-up to know what to expect,” said Kyle Cook, a transportation engineer for Salt Lake City.
Handling an ‘intense’ road
The project differs from a bond that residents passed in 2018, which funded most of the other large road construction projects in recent years. The bond tackled many busy corridors, but not 600/700 North, which connects with both I-15 and I-215 and serves as a crucial east-west connecting road.
City transportation officials determined that the road “failing” pavement, storm drain issues and other infrastructure needs made it a strong candidate for a complete reconstruction, Cook explained. It didn’t help that its bridge over the Jordan River had also fallen into disrepair, so work began to make major improvements.
A map showing the project area of the 600/700 North Project. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2025 and end in 2026. (Salt Lake City)
Planners found other issues that could be addressed in the project as they reviewed the road further. They found that angled crashes accounted for over half of crashes, while three-fourths of all crashes happened within intersections.
“We heard a lot about how the road is kind of intense. There’s high-speed traffic, (and) the design of the street is somewhat unwelcoming for people walking or biking,” Cook told KSL.com on Wednesday. “It’s just not a comfortable corridor to be on.”
Planning began in 2020 to address all of these issues, which included some unique forms of public comment. COVID-19 made it difficult to hold normal open house meetings, but city transportation officials created online surveys and held in-person demonstrations of what a newly designed road could look like.
It culminated in two construction projects that will overlap starting next year. Salt Lake City will oversee a complete overhaul of the road, creating a median separating the two travel directions while adding enhanced crosswalks, new bike paths separated from the roadway, extended curbs and new bus stops.
The Utah Department of Transportation will take on the task of replacing the bridge over the Jordan River since it’s become structurally deficient.
Funding for the $20 million project comes from a mix of sources, including a city sales tax bond and UDOT’s transportation investment fund.
More major road construction
Construction won’t begin until the spring of 2025, but Salt Lake City is getting the word out early because both projects are expected to create significant travel impacts.
The bridge replacement, while important, is going to be “especially impactful” because it’s expected to close a section of the road for six to eight months once bridge work begins, which is why state and city officials decided to lump both projects together, Cook said. By working at the same time, the two sides hope to “consolidate the impacts” of both.
“With the road project, we can keep travel lanes open and that sort of thing. But with this bridge project, it’s going to be necessary to close the street completely,” he said. “It’s a major corridor, so we’re going to have detoured traffic and some pretty major travel impacts for that period of time.”
Additional construction is scheduled for 2026, wrapping up by the end of that year.
A ‘generational investment’
The city held a community open house on Tuesday and plans to advertise the project more in early 2025 because of the anticipated impacts. Cook said he understands that it will be difficult on people who rely on the road, but he believes it’s also a “generational investment” for the city’s west side — addressing a need residents have called for.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said it’s also viewed as a crucial project in citywide efforts to address traffic safety. Utah’s capital announced plans last year to join the Vision Zero Network after a spike in roadway deaths across the city.
The mayor told KSL.com on Tuesday that data from the new 600/700 North section, along with other recently configured roads, will ultimately be used in future road construction projects.
“The improvements we are tracking and will continue to track — from a public safety perspective — will help us inform what kind of benefits we can get from similar capital investments in other parts of the city,” she said.
