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Southern Metro, Utah Valley University Pedestrian Bridge Opens

The new pedestrian bridge connecting Utah Valley University with the Utah Transit Authority’s FrontRunner Orem Central Station is pictured during its unveiling on Thursday, Jan.14, 2021.
Crews will continue putting the finishing touches on the bridge over the next few weeks, with an expected opening in early February. Laura Seitz, Deseret News

New pedestrian bridge will provide safety, save time for Utah Valley students - Deseret News - January 14, 2021 - Jason Lee Reporting: https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/1/...alley-students

OREM — For nearly three years, Oumar Traore has taken the long way around the I-15 freeway to get to class at Utah Valley University.

A junior majoring in information technology who lives just west of campus, his alternatives are to walk along a frontage road then proceed along heavily traveled University Parkway in Orem, or wait for sparsely scheduled buses, or to brave speeding traffic by dashing across the freeway to get to the other side.

Soon that commuting nightmare will be a thing of the past. On Thursday, the ribbon was cut on a new pedestrian bridge that will make getting to the main campus east of the freeway a whole lot easier and much faster, too...

Utah Valley University mascot Willy the Wolverine, left, President Astrid Tuminez and others celebrate the opening of the new pedestrian bridge connecting UVU with the Utah Transit Authority’s
FrontRunner Orem Central Station on Thursday, Jan.14, 2021. Crews will continue putting the finishing touches on the bridge over the next few weeks, with an expected opening in early February. Laura Seitz, Deseret News

...“I’m a commuter student. I actually come from Eagle Mountain across Utah Lake, so it’s a little bit of a drive for me to get here,” she explained. “Having the option of taking the FrontRunner (commuter rail) and just being able to cross the bridge and be on campus is going to be so great where I don’t have to fight traffic anymore.”

The new pedestrian bridge connects Utah Valley University with the Utah Transit Authority’s FrontRunner Orem Central Station. The $30.7 million bridge was built through a partnership with UVU, UTA, the Utah Department of Transportation, along with the city of Orem and the state Legislature. The high-tech span measures more than three football fields at 1,000 feet long and 15 feet wide, making it the largest pedestrian bridge in Utah.

“This bridge is a one-of-a-kind triumph,” Val Peterson, UVU vice president of finance and administration, said. “Its construction began with a question — how we can safely connect pedestrians on one side of our campus with the other — and the larger question of how to more easily connect the community with UVU? I believe we have done just that.”

The bridge was built using 15,000 square feet of heated concrete that will melt snow and ice in the cold weather months. It also has a full-coverage roof to provide shelter from the elements, an elevator, and the walkway is lined with 125 lights and 18 security cameras for added safety.

Construction was aided by using locally sourced materials to make the finished product.

“One of the interesting things that I found was the girders. The steel underneath the bridge was manufactured at a plant right off of Geneva Road,” said UDOT engineer David Gill. “We were able to go and tour that plant and see how they build those girders — the steel beams to construct the bridge. That was fascinating for me as an engineer.”...


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