The Utah Department of Transportation says it has a first — using a conveyor bridge to transport concrete over Interstate 15 to construction workers in the middle of the freeway.
“It’s pretty unusual,” said John Gleason, UDOT spokesman. “It’s the only one in the state that I know about.”
The Point Project is in phase one of reconstructing I-15 from Bangerter Highway in Draper to State Route 92 (Timpanogos Highway) in Lehi and is scheduled for completion in September 2016. That section of freeway was built in the early 1960s and needed a $252 million reconstruction.
Phase two is tentatively scheduled for 2021 and involves the reconstruction of I-15 from SR 92 to Lehi Main Street.
Once the first phase is complete there will be five northbound travel lanes and five more going southbound, bringing it from its former fail status as a freeway to a healthy interstate until 2030, according to growth and transportation studies of the area.
Nearly 200 feet of conveyor belt crosses over the northbound lanes of I-15 and the East Frontage Road at Point of the Mountain. Its carries several tons of concrete from a site east of the interstate to the center of the freeway, where the concrete breaks off and drops into a waiting bin.
Read more: UDOT builds innovative conveyor bridge over I-15 for construction
