UTA officials warn of ‘major traffic delays’ due to Harrison Boulevard work
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- Harrison Boulevard near Mount Ogden Junior High School at 32nd Street, photographed Monday, May 15, 2023. To accommodate work, traffic will be narrowed to one lane going each way from Tuesday, May 16, 2023, through Sunday, May 21, 2023, along Harrison Boulevard between 31st and 37th streets.
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- Harrison Boulevard near Mount Ogden Junior High School at 32nd Street, photographed Monday, May 15, 2023. To accommodate work, traffic will be narrowed to one lane going each way from Tuesday, May 16, 2023, through Sunday, May 21, 2023, along Harrison Boulevard between 31st and 37th streets.
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- Harrison Boulevard near Mount Ogden Junior High School at 32nd Street, photographed Monday, May 15, 2023. To accommodate work, traffic will be narrowed to one lane going each way from Tuesday, May 16, 2023, through Sunday, May 21, 2023, along Harrison Boulevard between 31st and 37th streets.
OGDEN — The end of construction of the Utah Transit Authority’s bus rapid transit system is looming, but it’s going to get worse along Harrison Boulevard — at least for a week — before it gets better.
Traffic on Harrision Boulevard between 31st and 37th streets — a morass of orange and white traffic barriers for the past two years due to varied elements of the work — will be winnowed from two lanes of traffic to one going each direction starting Tuesday. The lane reduction, to facilitate final paving of the road section, will be in effect around the clock through Sunday.
“Drivers should expect major travel delays and are encouraged to use alternate routes,” the Utah Transit Authority said in a statement.
Mount Ogden Junior High School — which experiences heavy traffic flow immediately before school starts in the morning and just after the last bell rings at 3:10 p.m. most days — sits off Harrison Boulevard at 32nd Street. Likewise, many businesses sit along Harrison Boulevard in the impacted section.
Beyond that, UTA said, intermittent turn lane restrictions may occur at 32nd and 36th streets during the six days of work and some driveways into the businesses along the impacted section may face closures for up to two hours. New stations to handle the bus rapid transit system, called Ogden Express, or OGX, are taking shape at 32nd and 36th streets along Harrison Boulevard, which has resulted in a dramatic transformation over the past two years of the roadway.
On the bright side, “substantial roadway completion” along the 5.3-mile OGX route is tentatively scheduled for June 1, UTA said, meaning autos will no longer have to maneuver around traffic barriers to make space for construction.
“That means all drivers, pedestrians and businesses will have full access to the Ogden Intermodal Hub, 23rd Street, 25th Street, Harrison Boulevard, Weber State Lindquist Plaza and the front entrance of McKay-Dee Hospital,” said UTA spokesman James Larson. He was alluding to the varied areas of the city that have been subject to OGX work over the past two years.
The OGX route — to start fully operating on Aug. 20 — goes from the FrontRunner station near Union Station in downtown Ogden to the Weber State University campus and McKay-Dee Hospital. After June 1, minor construction fixes, landscaping and testing of the route are planned preceding formal start of OGX operations.
“When operational, 11 clean-air electric buses will service 13 stations along the route every 10-15 minutes on weekdays and 15-30 minutes on weekends,” UTA said. The aim of the system is to create a high-speed transit option to some of the key points in Ogden.
