St. George • State and St. George officials are overjoyed about a U.S. Department of Transportation grant that will help fund construction of two underpasses aimed at connecting neighborhoods now separated by Interstate 15.
Flush with the recent news that the state is receiving $87.6 million for the underpasses from the federal Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhood program, St. George Mayor Michele Randall heralded the news as a major boost in the city’s effort to reduce traffic congestion.
“We are so thrilled to obtain funding … to create two much-needed underpasses in St. George,” Randall said in a prepared statement. “One of our biggest challenges is transportation. We live in a city with ridges to the north, west and east, two rivers and an interstate cutting through the middle of town. These underpasses will mean less time on the roads getting from Point A to Point B and help alleviate some of our traffic congestion.”
State transportation officials are equally ecstatic. The Legislature has already allocated state money to widen each direction of I-15 between the Bluff Street and St. George Blvd. exits from two to three lanes. The grant money for the underpasses will enable both projects to be built concurrently, thus saving time and money and reducing the inconvenience of the construction.
Kevin Kitchen, region four communications manager for UDOT, said the combined cost for both projects is estimated to be $194.7 million. That would fund the widening of I-15 between the two exits and raising the highway’s height to accommodate the two new underpasses.
Interstate 15 bisects the city of St. George. The new underpasses will be built at 400 E. (Flood Street) and 900 South to connect neighborhoods on both sides of the interstate. City officials say that is crucial to reduce congestion in the area and improve access to Dixie High School and Dixie Middle School, both of which have boundaries that straddle both sides of I-15.
Lloyd Sutton, active transportation coordinator for St. George, said the underpasses would enable students to walk to school in five minutes rather than have to go a mile and a half out of their way to cross under the interstate. The underpasses would also ease traffic congestion by giving vehicles and cyclists two more routes to cross the interstate instead of further clogging Bluff or 700 S. streets, two existing major traffic arteries that provide access to both sides of the freeway.
“From my perspective, having to detour a mile or two to cross the interstate doesn’t seem that long, but if you have to walk or bike a mile or two extra, that can determine whether it is feasible to travel that way,” Sutton said, adding that the new underpasses would reduce traffic logjams on Bluff and 700 South streets.
Kitchen credited the persistence of St. George officials and residents, in large part, for making the grant award possible. When state lawmakers funded the I-15 widening project in 2021, he said, they asked UDOT to study the feasibility of placing another freeway interchange at 700 S. in St. George.
City officials and residents, in turn, asked the state to explore the utility of building freeway underpasses to reduce congestion and negate the need for another interchange at 700 S., according to Kitchen. While UDOT officials determined the additional interchange at 700 S. was still needed down the road, they decided to explore the feasibility of constructing the underpasses.
Despite widespread support from city residents, St. George’s application for Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhood funding for the underpasses was rejected. That led UDOT to file its own application, which was subsequently approved this month.
The I-15 widening project is currently in the design phase, and the same process should get underway soon for the underpasses. UDOT hopes construction on both projects can begin next year and wrap up in 2026.
