SALT LAKE CITY – Everything old is new again, at least on one of the major highways in northern Utah.
As part of the Year-long project to transform the Bangerter Highway into a real motorway by converting intersections into interchangesThe construction workers use parts of the old road to build the new road.
Rather than waste time and fuel moving material torn up during the project to another location, the Utah Department of Transportation decided to leave 15,000 cubic yards of concrete on site and recycle it so it could be used again on the same project.
The concrete was crushed by heavy machinery at 4700 South and broken into tiny pieces, creating enough recyclable material to fill two Goodyear blimps, according to UDOT.
Instead of removing the old concrete, it was recycled at its original location and then reused as the road substructure for the new motorway junction.
“We’re taking the old Bangerter Highway, breaking it up and processing it into a product that we’re going to incorporate into the new Bangerter Highway,” said project manager Jake Nielson. “What most people don’t know is that most of the materials on our highways are 100% recyclable, whether it’s concrete or asphalt.”
The Bangerter project has been running for more than a decadewith workers building intersections at 13400 South, 9800 South, 4700 South and 2700 West this year.
