4700 South closing at Bangerter Highway for a year

SALT LAKE CITY — Starting Friday, the Utah Department of Transportation will shut down east/west traffic on 4700 South at Bangerter Highway and it’s going to stay that way for the next year. 

The closure starts as early as 9 p.m. on Friday.

UDOT Spokesperson John Gleason said drivers can still turn right onto Bangerter during the closure, but, east/west traffic is going to have to use an alternate route like 4100 South or 5400 South.

Why close 4700 South at Bangerter?

Gleason said the closure is so that UDOT can more effectively finish the new freeway-style interchange, like the ones they are working on at 9800 South, 13400 South and 2700 West.

“Once they’re complete, you’re going to be looking at more free-flow travel on Bangerter Highway without a lot of interruptions. That means getting people to where they’re going safer and more efficiently.”

Gleason said another big reason for the closure is because they’ve had issues with car accidents at other interchanges where they left east/west traffic open.

“The goal of this is not only to get people to where they’re going as quickly as possible but also that they’re safe,” Gleason said.

Short-term inconvenience for long-term benefits

“You have that short-term inconvenience where we have to close down 47[00 South] for a year but the long-term payoff for people that travel on Bangerter and live out here in Taylorsville, it’s going to be big,” Gleason said.

And, Gleason said, drivers on Bangerter are actually going to benefit from this immediately.

“You’re not going to have to stop at this traffic signal anymore on 47th. You’re going to get a preview of what the eventual interchange is going to look like.”

The new interchange, as well as three others under construction right now, are set to be finished by the end of next year.

Related: UDOT begins Bangerter Highway construction to improve traffic flow