West Davis Highway will make commutes easier and quicker, UDOT says
Jan 5, 2024, 5:00 PM | Updated: May 29, 2024, 4:22 pm
The West Davis Highway is finally a reality after decades in the making. (Adam Small/KSL NewsRadio
CENTERVILLE, Utah — Tonight’s commute is the last where Utahns in Davis County will have to navigate without the West Davis Highway. The long-awaited, 16-mile-long highway running from Centerville to West Point opens Saturday morning.
After more than two and a half years of construction, the decades-long dream of the West Davis Highway is finally a reality.
“This has been talked about since 1962,” said Utah Department of Transportation Executive Director Carlos Braceras.
UDOT began construction on the West Davis Highway in May of 2021 and managed to finish six months early.
The highway is very similar to Legacy Parkway, with a 65-mile-an-hour speed limit with two lanes on each side.
It has ramps at I-15 and Legacy in Centerville and exits for Farmington, Kaysville, Layton and Syracuse before it merges with SR 193 in West Point.
UDOT said this will save people, depending on exactly where they live, about 15 to 20 minutes on their commutes.
During a preview of the new highway, Utah Senate President Stuart Adams said he had seen the roads change just a bit over the years.
Adams said when they completed Legacy Parkway 15 years ago, some people were taking I-80 around Park City and into Weber Canyon to avoid the congestion on I-15.
Now, he said he’s grateful that the work to make navigating Davis County easier continues.
“The quality of life, that’s why we build these types of projects,” Adams said.
The highway opens to traffic for the very first time Saturday morning at 11:30.
“This is something that’s going to connect northern Utah in ways that we haven’t been able to do before,” Braceras said.
