Officials break ground on road

by Standard Examiner

NORTH OGDEN -- A mixed group of city officials, state political leaders, contractors and Utah Department of Transportation officials broke ground for the new highway on 2700 North that will lead Top of Utah residents to Interstate 15. "It"s not easy to build roads. This road has been talked about for at least 23 years," House Speaker Marty Stephens said.

Stephens spoke to the crowd of about 60 and shared with other speakers his happiness over a project Northern Utah legislatures have worked to get funding for. "This project comes from the Centennial Road fund. The fund was almost done away with after the Olympics and downturn in our economy but we made sure we had the funds for this road," Stephens said.

"The $15.5 million road will be under construction sometime this week," said Andy Neff, spokesman for UDOT. Work on power, phone and gas lines and laying of fiberoptic cable will start between I-15 and U.S. 89 in the next week. Crews will also begin clearing ground through the corridor between 1000 West and Washington Boulevard to start working on the sound wall and storm drain.

A 500-foot-long and 13-foot-high sound wall will be constructed in that area, Neff said.

"It will be a textured stone wall so it will be aesthetically pleasing," Neff said.

"It won"t be like we start here and go to the end, there will be different places worked on at different times," he added.

UDOT Executive Director John Njord said they were committed to making things run as smoothly as possible, but there were bound to be some headaches here and there. "It"s like remodeling your house when you are still living there. There will be some disruption to people"s lives," Njord said. "The five-point intersection at (U.S.) 89 in Farr West will be a bit confusing, but we will make it work," Njord said.

An area of wetlands in Pleasant View will also be enhanced with a pond that is currently on a 5-acre area. It will be increased to a 10-acre area with some mitigation being done by UDOT, Njord said.

"This will be a great thing for your community as well," Njord said of the wetlands project.

North Ogden Mayor Lynn Muirbrook is delighted to see the road coming up.

"This road will probably be the biggest benefit to North Ogden residents because we currently use 2550 North and it has been extremely dangerous," Muirbrook said. Muirbrook and the other speakers passed thanks around to everyone, but especially Stephens for his work in securing the funding.

Both Muirbrook and Pleasant View Mayor James Fisher hope the road will bring increased revenue into their city also.

"I know this will bring more people to our grocery stores and shopping centers," Muirbrook said.

The project is set for completion in the fall of 2004. Contractors on the project are Staker/Parson. John Parson was on hand and assured the community they would keep to that targeted completion time.
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