During peak travel hours on Pioneer Crossing, Mountain View Corridor or state Route 73 in northwest Utah County, standstill traffic can look similar to a parking lot at the local grocery store. As cities continue to boom with population growth, transportation officials are working to ease traffic congestion with more options to navigate the daily commute.

The Utah Department of Transportation is taking on an ambitious task of constructing two new freeways and a freeway extension, specifically in the cities of Lehi, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain.

According to a news release, the Utah Transportation Commission approved a group of freeway-related projects for northwest Utah County, totaling up to nearly $1.4 billion, which was approved by the Utah Legislature earlier this year.

The funding for the project is a reflection of burgeoning growth. Latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau shows a spike in residents over the past year across a majority of Utah Valley. Data from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute projects Utah County to grow faster than Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties combined by the year 2050.

“The residences and businesses are popping up throughout Lehi, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain, and it’s creating stresses on the transportation system,” UDOT Region 3 Director Rob Clayton explained to the Daily Herald. “So this investment of new project money from the Legislature, this $1.4 billion, is really a recognition of that growth and commitment to meeting the needs of the residents.”

This funding, combined with previously approved projects, represents a $2.1 billion investment into this area through the end of the decade, according to the news release.

Utah County UDOT projects to begin within the next two-years:

• Conversion of 2100 North to a freeway in Lehi — This project will extend the freeway connection along 2100 North between Mountain View Corridor and Interstate 15, with the goal of improving east-west mobility between the two freeways in northwest Utah County and Salt Lake County and helping to disperse traffic more efficiently for drivers traveling to communities within the central Utah Valley area. It’s slated to begin in 2026 at a cost of $554 million, $275 million of which is new funding.

UDOT recently started construction on another project along 2100 North, connecting the corridor to Porter Rockwell Boulevard near Herriman and South Jordan, with expected completion sometime in 2026.

• Pioneer Crossing Flex Lanes — Coming in at a cost of $77 million, UDOT says this project would provide two additional travel lanes in the peak direction of travel depending on the time of day. Crews will re-stripe Pioneer Crossing from Redwood Road to Mountain View Corridor to provide one additional travel lane in each direction throughout the day. Essentially, drivers could see two extra lanes during heavy traffic hours in the peak direction of travel. Technology would be used to allocate the lanes to the direction experiencing the heaviest traffic flow. A similar configuration is used on 5400 South in Salt Lake County. The project could begin as early as 2025. UDOT officials say they don’t anticipate significant impacts to existing homes or businesses near Pioneer Crossing.
• Extension of Mountain View Corridor south to S.R. 73 — This $553 million project aims to reduce congestion along Redwood Road in Saratoga Springs by extending Mountain View Corridor to Cory Wride Highway (S.R. 73). It also will provide an alternative freeway connection for traffic traveling between northwest Utah County and Salt Lake County. It’s expected to begin by 2027.
• Cory Wride Freeway From Mountain View Corridor to Ranches Parkway — This project, costing $459 million, will construct a new freeway with frontage roads from Mountain View Corridor to Ranches Parkway in Eagle Mountain. As envisioned by UDOT, the project will ease congestion in the area, accommodate transit, minimize impacts to existing properties, preserve access to existing developments, and feature bike lane and trail improvements. This project also is slated to begin in 2027.

Each project, with the exception of the Pioneer Crossing flex lanes, will be constructed with alternate forms of travel in mind, as UDOT will connect existing and planned trails in the area to help people to get to their destinations and communities in the way they want, according to the press release.

The last transportation investment of this magnitude in Utah County was over a decade ago. The I-15 CORE project in 2012 reconstructed 24 miles of freeway from Lehi to Spanish Fork.

“This significant investment represents our commitment to building a transportation system that meets the needs of all Utahns,” UDOT Executive Director Carlos Braceras said in a press release. “As we continue to grow as a state, we will work to find transportation solutions to help everyone get to where they want in the way they want.”

Rob Clayton said UDOT works closely with local municipalities to understand the needs of each community. “They’ve provided us important feedback on issues like trails, active transportation — and so these facilities, they don’t get reconstructed very often. So we only have one shot to do it right,” he said.

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