I-15 Construction (Cont'd) August 13, 2008 Brent DeYoung, UDOT project manager, said the construction is also under budget by a significant amount. The project, which includes all environmental, right-of-way, design and construction work, was estimated at $260 million, but officials are hoping a few million dollars has been saved, DeYoung said. "We used a design-build-delivery method," he said. "Construction had already begun while we were still designing the project." Randy Jefferies, UDOT design oversight manager, said he thinks the project saved at least two years by having construction begin before designs were complete. "Usually construction would start after design is 100 percent complete, which would take two years," he said. "This is my first time doing it this way, but I think it worked very well." UDOT also saved money and time by using existing concrete barriers instead of building a new bridge out of steel girders. "It was originally set to be constructed with steel girders, but we realized we were just a few feet off from using concrete bridge girders," DeYoung said. "We talked to UTA (Utah Transit Authority), and they were willing to shift their rail line a few feet. "(It) saved about a half-million dollars," he said. Initial projections showed that a temporary bridge would be required to keep traffic flow smooth, but UDOT managed to avoid building the short-term structure by keeping traffic on one bridge while the other was worked on, DeYoung said. Saunders said the project was mostly complete before the big price increase in asphalt products, which lowered the original estimate. "We were lucky to dodge that bullet," he said. DeYoung said that nearly $1 million was saved by changing the pavement design. "We designed the inside lanes differently (so that they're) not quite up to the same standards of outside lanes," he said. "The inside lanes were designed to carry a lighter traffic load compared to the outside lanes that usually hold semi trucks and larger vehicles." A few final touches to the project will be completed this week before UDOT conducts a tour. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will begin after the tour at 10 a.m. Friday. County Fair Display for Marriott-Slaterville Created by Randy Phipps, it displays city name and each flower petal gives the name of a city busines 64