Construction of the 7800 South overpass and intersection was the most complex part of the project, says Brandon Squires, project manager for Ralph L. Wadsworth. "We had a school right there next to us. We had a moratorium on lane closures around the holiday shopping season," Squires says. "But the biggest thing was an aqueduct that runs along that part of 7800 South. It supplies more than half of the water for the valley. If something happened to that, it would be catastrophic."

The 78-in. pipe, managed by the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, handles around 20 million gallons of water a day. Squires says the design-build team worked to ease the fears of water managers by performing some reinforcing work on the pipe before beginning major construction of the intersection and the overpass.

"The pipe was in better shape than the managers had thought it would be when we got it uncovered," says Squires. "It's steel with a concrete-mortar lining that has been there since the late '60s or early '70s."

In November, the time of lowest water demand, the line was drained. "We installed 72 rubber gasket seals along about 1,000 feet of the pipe," Squires adds. "The seals at the joints allow the pipe to move a little without leaking. We had to get that done before we got started on any work at the intersection."

Other utilities, including natural gas and communications lines, were also relocated during construction. A temporary signaled "through U-turn" several hundred feet north and south of the 7800 South intersection was used to allow traffic to turn east or west off Bangerter during construction of the new intersection.

Now complete, the overpass allows six lanes of traffic (three each north and south) to pass over the 7800 South intersection on Bangerter. Traffic turning on or off the highway will use separate lanes similar to freeway ramps.

Carrillo says that in the coming years, the department will repeat the use of overpasses and CFIs at all of the intersections south of 7800. Eventually, north-south traffic will be able to move without stopping until the highway's intersection with I-15.

Opening a Clogged Arterial

Beginning at Redwood Road in the east and extending west across Bangerter, 5400 South runs east-west through the towns of Taylorsville and Kearns.

"Fifty-four-hundred South is one of the arterials that is highly utilized. Whether you want to go to Kearns, West Valley or West Jordan, there are a lot of people who use that road," says Carrillo.