ST. GEORGE — Work on adding an additional lane to a segment of state Route 18 through The Ledges area included a round of blasting Monday that is set to repeat Thursday at 11 a.m.
Monday’s blasting occurred around 11:30 a.m., according to a press release from the county. Travel on the road and adjacent bike path was stopped for about 15 minutes as the detonation teams did their work and subsequently cleared the area. SR-18 was reopened by 11:45 a.m.
Thursday’s detonation is projected to take place around 11 a.m., if everything goes according to plan.
Speed through the work area is reduced to 55 mph and motorists are asked to pay attention to their driving when passing through.
Work on this segment of SR-18 is taking place Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and is anticipated to wrap up by the end of April.
The blasting as a part of an overall project to add a passing lane between The Ledges community and the northern entrance of Snow Canyon State Park.
The cost of the project is $2 million and was awarded to Sunroc Construction during a Washington County Commission meeting held earlier this year.
The addition of the passing lane is seen as a needed safety enhancement for the roadway with the county pushing for the project to conclude before the next Ironman competition set to take place in May.
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