UDOT to replace barriers between Ogden Canyon Road, Ogden River
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- State Route 39, the Ogden Canyon Road, photographed Tuesday, March 1, 2022. The Utah Department of Transportation plans to replace sections of the concrete barrier separating the roadway from the steep decline to the Ogden River.
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- State Route 39, the Ogden Canyon Road, photographed Tuesday, March 1, 2022. The Utah Department of Transportation plans to replace sections of the concrete barrier separating the roadway from the steep decline to the Ogden River.
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- State Route 39, the Ogden Canyon Road, photographed Tuesday, March 1, 2022. The Utah Department of Transportation plans to replace sections of the concrete barrier separating the roadway from the steep decline to the Ogden River.
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- State Route 39, the Ogden Canyon Road, photographed Tuesday, March 1, 2022. The Utah Department of Transportation plans to replace sections of the concrete barrier separating the roadway from the steep decline to the Ogden River.
Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner
State Route 39, the Ogden Canyon Road, photographed Tuesday, March 1, 2022. The Utah Department of Transportation plans to replace sections of the concrete barrier separating the roadway from the steep decline to the Ogden River.
OGDEN — More work is planned along Ogden Canyon Road — replacement of the concrete barriers along the narrow roadway’s edge that help keep autos from straying into the Ogden River.
The existing barriers sometimes fall into the river when hit, along with cars at times, and the aim with the change is to install barriers that stay put.
“Part of the problem here is there’s not really a good foundation there. We’re improving that foundation. It’s also going to be cast-in-place barrier so when it’s hit, it’s not meant to give. It’s going to stay put,” said Rob Wight, director of the Utah Department of Transportation‘s Region 1 office.
Mitch Shaw, a UDOT spokesperson, said the new barrier will also be taller “to keep cars on the road.” Word of the new plans comes in the wake of completion in January of a new bridge over the Ogden River along the roadway, a project that caused traffic snarls and backups, at times, as work progressed.
Wight told the Utah Transportation Commission last Friday, when the body approved $750,000 in funding for the plans, that there have been 108 “roadway departure” crashes along the winding roadway over the past five years. Shaw said some of the autos involved have ended up in the river.
Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner
State Route 39, the Ogden Canyon Road, photographed Tuesday, March 1, 2022. The Utah Department of Transportation plans to replace sections of the concrete barrier separating the roadway from the steep decline to the Ogden River.
In places along the roadway, also known as State Route 39, barrier sections sit on the edge of fairly steep drops that lead to the Ogden River. The most winding section runs about nine miles from the eastern edge of Ogden east to Pineview Reservoir.
With the $750,000 in funds, UDOT officials will replace barrier sections that are in worst shape and in areas where the most accidents occur. The hope, Shaw said, is to eventually replace the barriers all along the roadway, though the initial outlay will only cover part of the overall cost.
The work will likely start the summer or fall of 2022.
State Route 39, the Ogden Canyon Road, photographed Tuesday, March 1, 2022. The Utah Department of Transportation plans to replace sections of the concrete barrier separating the roadway from the steep decline to the Ogden River.
State Route 39, the Ogden Canyon Road, photographed Tuesday, March 1, 2022. The Utah Department of Transportation plans to replace sections of the concrete barrier separating the roadway from the steep decline to the Ogden River.
