UDOT announced Thursday the project will begin at 7 a.m. on U.S. Highway 6, going from Diamond Fork Road to the U.S. 89 junction, with each direction of the passage being reduced from two lanes to one through December. The project is estimated to be completed at the end of the year.

Crews will install median barriers, improve overhead lighting and fix drainage systems along the roadway.

“U.S. 6 is a critical route for so many Utahns, and these improvements are about making every trip safer,” UDOT Region 3 Deputy Director Boyd Humpherys said in a release. “This project is part of our long-term effort to reduce crashes and protect lives.”

UDOT Region 3 spokesperson Wyatt Woolley told the Daily Herald the project will involve replacing middle turn lanes currently on the roadway with a concrete barrier that will have periodic openings for turn pockets.

“We’re trying to accommodate everyone that we can while still making this vast improvement,” Woolley said.

As construction begins, he said commuters should maintain work-zone speeds through the area to be safe.

“We want to avoid any type of collision, especially head-on collisions, because they’re extremely dangerous,” he said. “And that’s what a middle barrier protects, which is what this project is about. And so this is the first step of making this a much safer area to drive through.”

UDOT has spent several decades working to improve the canyon highway that Woolley called “a dangerous route” 40 to 50 years ago.

Within the last two years, UDOT said it has received over $148 million in state funds to improve Spanish Fork Canyon by widening lanes, installing median barriers and adding other safety features.

The agency said an additional $113.2 million will go toward projects currently in the design phase, including widening U.S. 6 to five lanes from Chicken Hollow to Tie Fork; creating a grade separation of U.S. 6 and U.S. 89 and Thistle Junction; widening U.S. 6 and adding a median barrier near Soldier Summit and improving interactions along U.S. 6 in the Spring Glen area.

Woolley added that UDOT is in the design phase to build an underpass at the U.S. 6 and U.S. 89 intersection that goes beneath U.S. 6 to reduce collision risks.

“We’re improving a lot of stuff and adding some passing lanes and some other intersection improvements along that route, because U.S. 6 is a major corridor, and we recognize that, and we want to make it as safe, but also as efficient as possible,” Woolley said.