Utah Alliance

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has just announced that the orange barrel will again be your friend this summer. Over 200 road projects will be underway during the warmer months of the year. To those of us who drive alot for our jobs, it can be a real frustration.

To help us plan ahead, UDOT has put together a link on their site that gives us the details. Know Where Know Why is an orange tab on their website and hosts a great interactive map that outlines all of the projects and the delays you will likely face due to lane restrictions, closures or accidents. The site offers you weather conditions, real time traffic conditions, current traffic incidents, and a road construction guide. Bookmark the site on your computer and phone and check it out when you get ready to head out the door.

The following projects are slated to begin this year, or have already begun on Utah’s roads:

• 1000 West (S.R. 252), Logan
• I-15, Box Elder County
• S.R. 39, Ogden
• I-84, Morgan to Mountain Green
• I-84, Taggart Bridges
• I-15, Bountiful
• Renovate I-80, Salt Lake City to Wyoming
• Bridge Deck Projects, Salt Lake County
• Diverging Diamond Interchange, West Valley City
• Bangerter CFIs, Salt Lake County
• I-215 and I-15 junction (Choke Point Project), Murray
• State Street, Midvale
• ThrU turn intersection, Draper
• I-15, Draper to Utah County line
• Mountain View Corridor, Salt Lake/Utah counties
• U.S. 189, Wallsburg to Heber
• S.R. 92, Highland
• U.S. 89 (State Street), Orem
• S.R. 114 (Geneva Road), Orem
• I-15 CORE, Utah County
• I-15 projects south of Spanish Fork
• I-70, Emery Co. (west of Green River)
• U.S. 191 to S.R. 279, Moab
• I-15, northern Washington County
• I-15, St. George

Drive Safe this summer and don’t forget to visit some of the great Utah sites for your vacation this year.

One of the places that you really should visit when in Salt Lake (Sandy) is the Living Planet Aquarium. It might seem odd for Utah located in the middle of a desert to have an aquarium. But truly it is a wonderful place to explore not only oceanic creatures, but also to explore the waterway and water life of Utah.

The Living Planet Aquarium is open every day of the year with the exception of Christmas and Thanksgiving Day. The price is also pretty reasonable, considering what you might pay for a similiar exhibit in a larger city. Admission for adults is just $9 and you will pay $7 for your children 3-17. But here’s the DEAL of the century. You can purchase an annual membership for $23 a year which gives you a year of unlimited admissions, 10% off gift shop items, 10% off Stingray feedings and 10% off birthday parties.

Check out the map of the “Journey to South America” exhibit. There are lots of fun things to do and see there.

The Aquarium offers two really cool things you can participate in for an extra charge: A stingray feeding and a close up with Penguins.

The Living Planet Aquarium is celebrating a grand re-opening this week and will have new exhibits available in the summer. You can find the Aquarium at 725 East 10600 South in Sandy. For more information, call 801-355-3474 or visit their website.

Today seems like the perfect day to talk about one of Salt Lake’s most visible and versatile features: our mountains. There are 4 ski resorts located 30 minutes from the Salt Lake International Airport. Alta and Snowbird are located in Little Cottonwood Canyon and Brighton and Solitude are located in Big Cottonwood Canyon. I feel really spoiled because I have lived at the foot of those two canyons my entire life. It only takes me fifteen minutes to head up one of those canyons to some pretty spectacular skiing. And don’t be deterred by the fact that we’re almost to the end of March. With the late snow storms we’ve received, the ski resorts will be open until at least end of April. Snowbird will have lifts open even later than that – possibly until Memorial Day.

And if you are not a skier, the canyons in Salt Lake County offer some great summer activities as well. You can go up for a day hike, a picnic, rock climbing, mountain biking, great restaurants or for some R&R. The scenery, of course, is fabulous, the temperatures are cooler in the summer, and you can actually see some of the stars at night. There are a number of summer activities at the ski resorts as well. Snowbird has the tram open all summer, as well as a zip line. You can attend concerts there, Oktoberfest, and the great Cliff Spa.

Other canyons in the Salt Lake Valley include Emigration, Millcreek, Butterfield, City Creek, Parleys, and Red Butte. There are campgrounds, lakes, streams, hiking and biking trails in all of them. If you live in the Salt Lake valley, take advantage of these wonderful resources. Plan a family night soon and head up the canyons. If you don’t live in the valley, you’re also in luck. There are beautiful mountains, canyons and outdoor resources all over the state. This is certainly one of the reasons many people relocate to the state – being close to the mountains and all of the natural resources available there.

See you at the top!