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SOUTH JORDAN — Talk about an oversized load.
Crews worked to slowly move an entire 18,000-square-foot dental office building from one side of a parking lot to the other on Tuesday. The move is in preparation for construction of a new Bangerter Highway interchange that will soon be located close to where the building was before.
The foundation of Osborne Dental, located at 3630 W. South Jordan Parkway, was lifted up on beams and moved to make room for the highway’s south off-ramp at 10400 South. The interchange will be akin to a freeway interchange, according to the Utah Department of Transportation.
UDOT is planning similar Bangerter interchanges at 6200 South in Taylorsville and 12600 South in Riverton, as well.
In regards to 10400 South interchange, there were two buildings in the way of the plans, according to UDOT spokesman John Gleason. UDOT bought those buildings to demolish and make room for the interchange; however, the agency reached an agreement with Dr. Bret Osborne, one of the building owners, who was able to repurchase the building if he had it moved.
"The bottom line is it’s saving time, it’s saving money, and all of this material back behind me, as part of the building, doesn’t end up in the landfill. And so it’s a creative, innovative solution where everybody is a winner," Gleason said in a UDOT video while standing outside the South Jordan building. "We’re really proud to be a part of this solution."
Osborne said he was able to find a Pennsylvania-based company with experience moving buildings, which eased his concerns that the building could crack or topple over during the moving process. Those fears worsened when a 5.7 magnitude earthquake rocked the Wasatch Front on March 18, which was after the building had been lifted off its foundation. But the building survived the quake just fine.
Overall, Osborne was happy to reach an agreement to save the structure. "We were able to save a relatively new beautiful building and move it to a location nearby," he said.
With COVID-19 concerns messing with business models across the state and country, Osborne added he’s not entirely sure when Osborne Dental will reopen. That said, he’s happy that the timeline for it to reopen was expedited because the building was moved.
Construction of all three interchanges is set to begin this summer and be completed by the end of next year. Gleason explained the process is being done as UDOT tries to make Bangerter Highway "more freeway-like."
"We want to make it more efficient, to where they’re going quicker, and we want to make it safer," he said. "Any time you can take out a traffic signal, that’s going to improve safety because it takes out that conflict point."
