WSP designing preconstruction services for Utah’s Southern Parkway

Salt Lake City — The Utah Department of Transportation selected WSP USA as the prime consultant to provide preconstruction engineering services for a segment of the Southern Parkway (SR-7) expressway that loops through Washington County, Utah.

The project consists of nearly 8 miles of new roadway, including multiple structures, interchanges and a drainage system to accommodate the full buildout of a future four-lane divided and grade-separated expressway. WSP will be responsible for roadway, structures and drainage design as well as environmental reevaluations and right-of-way documents.

The Southern Parkway’s segment 5 is an 8-mile-long roadway section starting at 4300 West (Sand Hollow Road) extending north to connect with SR-9. The new roadway alignment is located within Hurricane City limits and is essentially all new construction. Segment 5 will complete a 33-mile expressway that connects I-15 at MP 2 to SR-9 and back to I-15 at MP 16. The Southern Parkway connects the communities of St. George City, Washington City and Hurricane City, giving better access to the St. George Regional Airport as well as creating a more direct connection to Zion National Park.

The intent of the project is to design the full parkway, but build only half of it. The parkway will operate as a two-lane roadway (one lane in each direction) until traffic demand requires construction of the full parkway. The design phase of the project is expected to be completed in December 2018.