Sinkhole causes hours-long traffic buildup on I-15 in Roy
May 16, 2025, 8:22 AM | Updated: 2:10 pm
SALT LAKE CITY – The sinkhole that formed Friday morning on Interstate 15 in Roy has been repaired. But not before it caused significant delays for drivers during the morning commute.
The Utah Department of Transportation traffic center confirmed that road damage created the sinkhole, resulting in an hours-long traffic jam on southbound I-15 at 5600 South in Roy.
The sinkhole formed in the far right lanes between Roy and Sunset and forced traffic down to one lane for drivers traveling from Ogden to Salt Lake. The sinkhole created big backups into Riverdale that lasted four hours.
UDOT crews were seen cutting concrete to fix this sudden sinkhole. KSL photojournalist Derek Peterson just happened to drive right over it, capturing footage of the sinkhole as the asphalt had started to give out.
This image captured on the dash camera of KSL TV’s mobile 5 shows a sinkhole on southbound I-15 that further collapsed, causing major delays from Riverdale to Roy.
MORE: https://t.co/rYbA7xoHJE pic.twitter.com/mUL5QHZrer
— KSL 5 TV (@KSL5TV) May 16, 2025
“Oftentimes you don’t know there’s a problem, or there’s going to be a problem, until there is a problem,” Mitch Shaw, spokesperson with UDOT Region One, said.
Shaw said the sinkhole completely gave way just before 8:00 a.m. at the worst possible time.
“Two lanes of traffic were closed right during rush hour,” Shaw said. “You can imagine that’s not a good formula for flow of traffic.”
At one point, the backup stretched five miles, putting cars at standstill all the way up to 21st Street in Ogden. Crews quickly jumped out to begin repairs. UDOT said it’s the second time they’ve filled a sinkhole in this exact spot.
“The road base is kind of deteriorating,” Shaw said. “We had fixed this area before, the fix lasted for several months, then just kind of showed up again today.”
Shaw attributed the sinkhole reopening to drainage problems underneath the freeway, made worse by recent rainstorms.
UDOT is out again repairing it, but can’t do a permanent fix until they reroute traffic from the 5600 S. I-15 construction project this summer.
“It’s basically going to take more digging down to really get at the problem,” Shaw said. “But if we were to do that now, we’d have to close the freeway down entirely, and we don’t want to do that.”
UDOT told KSL it’s impossible to predict when and where these sinkholes will pop up. They rely on you to tell them. So, if you see a sinkhole, give them a call.
A sink hole on I-15 SB just after 5600 South in Roy has closed 2-right lanes in the road construction zone. Only 1-left lane open causing stopped traffic back toward 31st Street in Ogden. pic.twitter.com/MFb9maioPo
— Heather Kelly (@HeatherKellyMMS) May 16, 2025
This story may be updated.
