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Show jf ' " ' I J A ' " n. r . I j I ' 1 . 1 ! I : ! ' 1 i Local UDOT road crew worker from the Panguitch shed, Denny Orton stirs the Dutch ovens containing sausage gravy prepared by UDOT workers early Monday morning. The work is in preparation for the cele-bration of the official offi-cial opening of Hwy. 20 following the completion of the road makeover. UDOT Celebrates Hwy. 20 Re-Opening PANGUITCH - "Picture an entire football field buried under 800 feet of dirt," was the portrait Hwy 20 UDOT Project Engineer Engi-neer Matt Tremble painted for those attending the ceremony Monday morning to mark the completion and opening of Hwy 20. "That's how much dirt, over 200,000 cubic yards, was excavated exca-vated during this entire project." And a total of some 1 ,400,000 cubic yards of materials hauled. Tremble brought the project further into focus for the audience audi-ence of mostly political officials, offi-cials, towns people, UDOT staff and field personnel, contractors and invited guests as he made such statements as the one above and as he noted, "we completed one mile of road for every 7.5 work days," if you look at the overall picture of the Hwy 20 construction begun Feb. 18 and ended Oct. 1 this year. Tremble further emphasized, "we couldn't have completed i this successfully and on time without the help and cooperation coopera-tion of the locals and excellent work of the contractors," so this is our way of expressing our appreciation. UDOT Region Four Information Officer Myron Lee UDOT Region Four Information Officer Myron Lee emceed the event held at 8 a.m. at the Triple C Arena in Panguitch and UDOT hosted the breakfast as well. A number of dignitaries were in attendance including Senator Tom Hatch, Transportation Commissioner for Washington- County Jerry Lewis and county commissioners commission-ers from Garfield and Iron counties. coun-ties. Lee noted that the project had come in ahead of schedule and all that remained to be finished fin-ished was a little paint and a chipseal would be added in the spring. UDOT office and field (See HWY. 20 on page 3A) UDOT Hwy. 20 Opening From Front Page staff worked together to Dutch oven potatoes, eggs and sausage, make sausage gravy, and homemade biscuits and added fruit and sweet rolls for the folks on hand. KIT''' '' , r UDOT Executive Director John Njord Lee ' introduced UDOT Executive Director John Njord out of Salt Lake City who welcomed wel-comed guests and spoke briefly. Njord pointed out that the main thrust of the project had been to "make travel safer and save lives" on this particular 20-mile stretch of highway between US89 and 115. He noted this was a heavily used route and it was in dire need of passing lanes, widening, guardrails, cattle cat-tle crossings, etc. He pointed out that the project had added some eight feet in width to the road as well and the entire length of road was now fenced with cattle underpasses in three locations.. Njord complimented the general gen-eral contractor Ames Construction for finishing the project ahead of schedule and that he appreciated the partnerships partner-ships formed and teamwork that was established. He was adamant that this entire project could not have been undertaken except for the long term efforts of early on legislator and now Senator Tom Hatch. He expressed that Hatch had taken the leadership on this as far back as 1997 when the project was first proposed as a portion of the 3.2 billion set aside for the Centennial Highways 41 projects. proj-ects. Njord pointed out that more than 50 percent of those projects had now been completed, complet-ed, with the 115 improvements being the largest of those projects. proj-ects. f- " - ' ' ' i 1 UDOT Project Engineer Matt Tremble Matt Tremble, the project engineer spoke next remarking of how "impressed" he was with the local people those truck drivers, family folks, delivery personnel and others who graciously gra-ciously put up with the length of this project and having SR20 closed at night for four days a week. He related how store owners and restaurants personnel person-nel had been warm and hospitable hos-pitable to the road personnel and were great about accepting the "inconvenience" of the project. He also remarked about the greater appreciation for Hwy 20 folks now have, having taken US 14 as an alternate route for so many months. General Contractor Tremble also expressed how he appreciated the general contractors, con-tractors, Ames Construction who hail from West Valley City and have been in the business since 1960. On hand from that firm were Senior Vice President Mark Brennan, Superintendent Paul Lundell, and Public Relations Representative Gloria Anderson. Others noted by Tremble were Construction Manager Mike Johnson, Project Manager Grant Fowkes and Safety Manager Steve Pack. Tremble remarked about some of the adversities each had to overcome during the project. He mentioned they had to face the challenges of flooding, not once, but twice in September. That there were battles and chal- S lenges over design changes during dur-ing the project but the last he had checked they came within 3 percent under the quantity of asphalt contracted for the project. proj-ect. He said they worked together and mitigated and agreed on changes needed. Sub Contractors He gave special recognition to the excellent sub contractors, complimenting them openly for their willingness to work together togeth-er and with the traveling public. Tremble thanked Dan and Sandi Keltner owners of American Traffic Services of Santa Clara for their outstanding work on traffic control, the environmental environmen-tal concerns and signing on the project. He said they were the ones we could get mad at for "closing the road" as they were the responsible parties. Dean and Brent Daley surveyors sur-veyors with Daley and Associates out of Payson were commended for their on and off-site off-site work. Tremble noted the very first time he drove Hwy 20 relative to beginning this project. proj-ect. There were absolutely no guardrails, only a few concrete barriers at a couple sites. Steve Tipton with Ti-Ber, the company compa-ny that installed the guardrails were lauded for their great job and the wonderful addition the guardrails make. Gary Lindley and Ed Stuart with Staker Paving were commended com-mended for their excellent job laying down 142,000 ton of asphalt. Markay Englestead with Rocky Mountain Fencing of Cedar City and with local ties to Panguitch was noted for some 1 15,000 feet (21 miles) of right-of-way fencing, about 33,000 feet of environmental orange fence installed, as well as the 34,000 feet of black silt fencing. Gene Henrie with Quality Crushing out of Beaver was noted for 333,000 cubic yards of crushed road base hauled. Other trucking firms included Cindy Stewart with Cindy Taylor Trucking, Panguitch; Sherm Peterson with Peterson Trucking, . and Richard Henrie and Kim Dalton with Henrie Earthmoving. Cattleguards and headwalls were installed by Hal Newton and crew from Newton Construction. Randy Debban with Mountain West Striping was responsible for the paint striping. Western Technologies was noted for quality control and John Hagman with WPR Industries was over landscaping. Tremble noted that some additional figures of 10,000 feet of pipe culvert installed, 131,000 cubic yards of drill shoot and a total of 1,400,000 cubic yards of dirt was moved in this project. Manhours on the project totaled 80,000 when complete. I , ' 1 " Senator Thomas Hatch Senator Tom Hatch wouldn't have missed this celebration for the world, as this particular project proj-ect was one he had "championed for a long time." Hatch noted that the Hwy 20 project, along with securing the Long Term Care facility at . Garfield Memorial Hospital, were the top projects that would stand out overall in thinking back over his lengthy career. He recalled for the audience his first years in the Legislature when an effort was made to raise the gas tax by five cents and there was not enough support for it from the southern end of the state. Hatch was fearful no road projects would be included for his end of the state so was asked personally what project he would like to see completed by then key players Clint Topham and Tom Warren. Hatch remembers remem-bers shooting his had in air and remarking how he would like to see Hwy 20 widened, curves flattened, passing lanes put in and new road base laid. Asked the tentative figure on such a project Hatch had come up with an early estimate of 10 million (See HWY 20 on page 5A) Hwy. 20 From Page 3A but later revised that upwards to 15 million. Someone up north was putting in for 80 million to improve 180, so it made Hatch's proposal seem paltry in comparison compar-ison and the project was funded. Highway 20 was one of the major road projects completed with Centennial funds Hatch noted. He recalled being apprehensive appre-hensive when told to complete the project in one season they would have to close the road four nights a week to the traveling travel-ing public. But Hatch deemed any inconvenience worth the final outcome. He recognized Iron County commissioners in attendance and noted what a . vital link Hwy. 12 was to Cedar City both economically and culturally cul-turally for the people of Garfield County. Hatch lauded all the personnel in transportation who had championed the Hwy 20 project over the years and stated he hoped the highway improvements improve-ments would prove beneficial for many years to come. |
