Trespassing on West Davis Corridor sites costing taxpayers millions

DAVIS COUNTY, Utah— A recent string of trespassing incidents has UDOT asking people to stay away from the West Davis Corridor construction area.

Kaysville Police tweeted Thursday that they responded to 23 trespassing incidents in that area of the corridor within the last month.

Another friendly reminder about the West Davis Corridor. In the last month alone we have taken 23 cases of trespassing on the property. This also includes the walking path. Please stay out of the area as crews are working diligently to get this up and running. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/8GKeNHKv2S

— Kaysville Police (@KaysvillePolice) May 9, 2023

But, UDOT’s West Davis Project Director Rex Harris told KSL Newsradio the trespassing is happening everywhere from Centerville to West Point.

Related: “Life-changing” West Davis Highway begins construction

“We’ve had a lot of individuals wanting to … access our project which is not safe,” Harris said. “There’s still open holes … (and) places that can really cause problems with people.”

Harris said they had particularly bad problems with the damage left behind by trespassers during the winter, and it’s costing a lot of taxpayer dollars.

“People would come out with their snowmobiles … ATV’s … and they would tear up a lot of the work that we had done,” Harris said. “The costs are amounting into the millions of dollars.”

Related: West Davis Highway reaches first milestone, project far from done

Harris said they have been able to stay on schedule despite the setbacks.

Most recently, crews have been working to install flyover ramp beams that’ll connect the future highway to southbound I-15.

UDOT expects to finish the 16-mile highway by the summer of 2024.

“It’s really enticing … they see new asphalt out there … new trails being built,” Harris said. “We want (people) to be able to utilize this project, but we want to have it in a condition that’ll be safe.”