OREM -- Lacking the money to purchase the highest-level of optional landscaping design for its freeway interchanges under the upcoming Interstate 15 widening project, Orem is opting for a modestly priced level of design.

Four "pork chop" sections of landscaping are planned to be placed between the on- and off-ramps at each of two I-15 interchanges in Orem -- 800 North and Center Street. The work will be part of the upcoming I-15 reconstruction/expansion of the freeway from Main Street in American Fork to Center Street in Provo, tentatively set to begin in June 2010 and to wind up in the fall of 2014.

Orem's Development Services director Stan Sainsbury said the sections are called "pork chops" because they are three-sided, with three points, like a triangular-shaped piece of meat, because of the placement of the bordering roads.

"I have said we should call it a 'T-bone,' " Sainsbury said, "But pork chop is the term that has been used, and it has stuck."

The landscape design option includes minimal elements of landscaping, rock and trees along with irrigation sleeving so a sprinkling system could be installed later and other upgrades could be added down the road.

"Laying the infrastructure in for future landscaping -- it gives us options for the future," Mayor Jerry Washburn said in a pre-council meeting discussion earlier this month.

In the council meeting, Sainsbury estimated that a fully landscaped interchange with features similar to the newer Pleasant Grove interchange would run $900,000.

The landscaping plan approved by the City Council has Orem spending $143,920, and the Utah Department of Transportation paying $200,000, or $100,000 for each interchange. Orem will be responsible for the long-term maintenance of the interchanges' landscaping.

The landscaping option for the two interchanges was just one of five contracts with UDOT approved by the City Council as part of Orem's efforts to gear up for the I-15 reconstruction.

The other agreements are:

• One that Sainsbury explained is a "master agreement," that the two parties will "find a way to work together while I-15 is built." General terms for the city's interaction with UDOT are established.

• In exchange for Orem agreeing to take the expanded I-15 storm water drainage, UDOT will upgrade the city's storm water system. Sainsbury said that if done by the city, the improvements would cost $2 million.

• UDOT will contribute $100,000 for the landscaping on the 1600 North interchange. Orem and Lindon accept long-term maintenance responsibilities in the three-party contract.

• A betterment agreement for new Orem utilities that will be crossing I-15 to make a water line at 1200 North and a storm drain at 1400 North. The $207,199 cost is to be paid by Orem to UDOT by Dec. 1 of this year.

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