The 24th Street Interchange Makeover
Published On: August 20, 2024 Posted by: Jeremy Peterson
Interstate 15 has played a significant role in the history of Ogden City. Before the interstate was created, Highway 89 was the main travel path north and south along the Wasatch Front. In Ogden, this road is Washington Blvd. As yesteryear’s travelers sojourned through Ogden, many needed a place to rest. Hence all the motel’s that sprung up in the 40’s and 50’s along Washington Blvd.
However, as I-15 was laid out and constructed, it took a course conspicuously distant from Ogden’s city center. With travelers bypassing the heart of Ogden, the viability of local hospitality businesses came into question and a slow atrophy took hold. Today, these now-defunct hotels and motels are disappearing quickly from the landscape.
While the interstate also opened some new economic opportunities for the city, there was a glaring construction flaw that has dampened this promise of prosperity since the beginning. The interchange at 24th St. was designed only to accommodate traffic leaving town southbound or exiting the freeway northbound. There was no way for people travelling southbound or wanting to leave northbound to do so. The exit ramps don’t exist. This has had obvious consequences for access to Downtown Ogden. Other exits in town are available, but they aren’t nearly as convenient.
Fast forward to today, and UDOT has a serious proposal on the table to remake the 24th St. interchange into what it ought to be. The project is ambitious.
First, the above graphic shows the current configuration of the roadways with the current exit ramp structure.
Here is the proposed design which moves the interchange 800 feet to the south. In the the satellite photo underlay, you can see that the proposed road change runs right through a lot of existing structures. As you can imagine, this project will require a lot of eminent domain action to accomplish.
In this view we can see how the northbound off ramp will run into West Ogden and transect through property that is adjacent to H Ave, right now. Each of the blue parcels marked will be subject to eminent domain.
Streets on the west side of the freeway will also be reorganized as Midland Drive is realigned and an intersection created where the new Midland Dr. and Pennsylvania Ave. meet.
These are certainly substantial changes! When details are finallized, look for orange barrels and traffic delays ahead as Ogden’s long awaited interstate project gets underway. In the meantime, you can learn more about this upcoming project here.
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