UDOT plans $621M expressway to ease northern Utah County traffic

EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah (KUTV) — The Utah Department of Transportation has planned a major groundbreaking for what it calls the first east-west expressway corridor in Utah County.

The plan is to build a six-lane freeway to connect I-15 and Mountainview Corridor, with three lanes in each direction and making 2100 N a frontage road on both sides.

“You almost hate to see it grow, but when it does grow, you like to see reasonable solutions for people’s problems,” said Michael Crofts, resident of Lehi.

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Drivers in northern Utah County are no strangers to the 2100 N congestion come rush hour.

“‘Cause one of the big things is that not a lot of jobs are out in Saratoga and Eagle Mountain,” Crofts said. “They’re out here in the East and this part of the valley or North and there does need to be a better way for people to get around.”

To ease traffic flow in the area, UDOT is planning to put the new expressway in the patch of grass between where 2100 N runs now.

“This is one of our biggest projects this year,” said John Gleason, public relations director for UDOT.

It’s about a three-mile segment and will cost roughly $621 million dollars. It will include two bridges—at 3600 W and 2300 W—and have freeway-to-freeway interchanges, so traffic won’t have to stop.

“Right now, there’s not a lot of great options East-West out there; and so by building this freeway, you’re going to improve not only the East-West connection, but you’re going to alleviate some of the traffic on the North-South roads there as well,” Gleason said.

2100 N will stay open during construction, according to UDOT.

“Any short-term issues that you have with construction, we’re hoping that that payoff is going to be great things for everybody that lives and works out in the area,” Gleason said.

“It’s kind of a bittersweet thing because it does feel almost overcrowded, but at the same time it’s one of those, well, but if we build better infrastructure, will it feel less crowded?” Crofts said. “But the bitter part is that they’re like, oh, our little tight-knit community is suddenly grown into a city.”

The groundbreaking is scheduled for March 18th, and UDOT estimates they’ll be building the expressway through late 2028.

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