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FARMINGTON — The planned new I-15 interchange at Shephard Lane in Farmington, where preliminary work is already underway, won't be the only new access point along the interstate.
Plans are in the works further north to build a new interchange along I-15 at 1800 North, adjacent to Hill Air Force Base in Sunset, with work scheduled to start next year. A new gate to Hill Air Force Base is to be built at the location as well. Meantime, the Utah Department of Transportation is planning to expand the interchange at West 24th Street in Ogden, though the efforts are in the preliminary stages and still subject to public comment.
Increasing traffic levels, perhaps not surprisingly, figure big in the plans as more people crowd into the Wasatch Front, augmenting road congestion. "Yes, growth and increasing traffic spurred the project," said UDOT spokesman Mitch Shaw, alluding to the interchange plans at Shephard Lane, where work began in earnest earlier this month.
However, he said new paths for pedestrians and cyclists are also planned as part of the Shephard Lane project, and another objective is to make it easier to travel from one side of Farmington to another.
"There was a need to alleviate congestion but to also further connect the east and west sides of Farmington. The new interchange will improve walking and biking facilities over I-15 at Shepard Lane and along Park Lane," Shaw said.
The $147.5 million Shephard Lane plans call for an interchange where Shephard Lane meets the east side of I-15, with a new bridge to be built over the interstate and the continuing roadway curving southwesterly to 950 North. The tie-in to 950 North will create a new connection from I-15 to the West Davis Corridor, another north-south arterial through Davis County.
The plans also call for new path system for cyclists and pedestrians around and along Park Avenue south of Shephard Lane, from the FrontRunner station on the west side of I-15 eastward to the east side of U.S. 89. "The project includes new pedestrian bridges at Park Lane and a pedestrian underpass between U.S. 89 and I-15," Shaw said.
Traffic along I-15 in the section will be maintained, for the most part, as work proceeds. But the removal of the existing Shephard Lane Bridge to make way for the new crossing at the interchange location will require some temporary closures, Shaw said, though he doesn't yet have details. Excavation and grading is underway ahead of construction of the new crossing over I-15, to be called North Station Lane.
The Shephard Lane roadwork is to be done by October 2025, with the facilities for cyclists and pedestrians to be finished by mid-2026.
The 1800 North exit
The plans for the new I-15 interchange at 1800 North in Sunset have been finalized, with work to start in 2025 and the $350 million project to be completed by the fall of 2027. UDOT is now in the midst of right-of-way acquisition.
I-15 will curve eastward onto what is now Hill Air Force Base property on either side of 1800 North to accommodate the entry and exit ramps. What's more, 1800 North from I-15 west to 2000 West in fast-growing Clinton will be widened to five lanes, two travel lanes each way plus a center turn lane. A bridge will be built to haul 1800 North traffic over the north-south rail line west of 475 West in Sunset.
"Essentially, the scope of this work at this location addresses the following needs: existing and future congestion on 1800 North, inadequate access to I-15 and a lack of east-west arterials in the area," Shaw said.
Brett Christensen, chief of the enhanced use-lease program at Hill Air Force Base, said the new planned entry point to the air base at 1800 North aims to reduce congestion at two other entry points off I-15, at 650 North in Clearfield and 5600 South in Roy. The base will provide the land to UDOT for the interchange, he said, and the state of Utah, in turn, will build the new entry to the air base.
The state also covered the cost of demolition of the old Army Rail Shop in the area and will pay to clean surface contamination at the location. The feds will cover the estimated $2 million cost of cleanup efforts of soil and groundwater contamination discovered at the site.
UDOT will have to acquire 48 properties to allow for the road expansion plans and portions of 68 more parcels. Three commercial or municipal structures will have to be relocated. Plans for the new Hill AFB entry point need to be finalized, but Christensen expects it to open by late 2027 or early 2028.
24th Street exit, Ogden
Plans to expand the I-15 exit onto 24th Street are still in the preliminary stages. UDOT held a public hearing last Thursday on the plans, drawing around 100 people, and will accept public comments on the proposed upgrade through May 3.
As is, northbound I-15 traffic may exit at 24th Street, and southbound I-15 motorists can enter the interstate at 24th Street in an industrial area of west Ogden. However, southbound motorists can't exit from I-15 at the location and northbound drivers can't get onto the interstate at the spot. Just half an interchange was built due to money constraints and because most goods headed to the north at the time were transported via rail.
UDOT planners, though, expect "excessive delays" at and around the intersection by 2050 if it is not improved, Shaw said. What's more, the environmental assessment outlining the planned reconfiguration says a "traditional interchange at 24th Street would enable Ogden city to proceed with initiatives to reinvest in and revitalize west Ogden," a low- to moderate-income section of the city that also contains a lot of industrial development.
No firm timeline has been established to do the work because road officials must first formally accept the environmental assessment, probably over the summer. Some $90 million has been earmarked for the project so far, but the overall cost — which would exceed that — hasn't yet been estimated, according to Shaw.
Preliminary plans call for the new and expanded I-15/24th Street interchange to be moved south about 800 feet from the current interchange, according to preliminary UDOT documents.
"The existing on- and off-ramps at 24th Street would be removed, but the existing I-15 underpass would be retained to provide local access" on both sides of the interstate, according to the environmental assessment. A new roadway section would be built from 24th Street southwesterly across I-15 as part of the new interchange project, eventually connecting with Midland Drive.
