Construction Begins on Spanish Fork Canyon Pipeline

$24.2 million project starts at the Diamond Fork Canyon turnoff and runs west more than two miles. Pipeline will transport water from Strawberry Reservoir to areas along the Wasatch Front, including Salt Lake and Utah Counties.

Construction has begun on the Spanish Fork Canyon Pipeline – Reach 1 along U.S. Highway 6, the Central Utah Water Conservancy District (CUWCD) announced in June. The pipeline construction starts at the Diamond Fork Canyon turnoff (Milepost 184.2) and heads west, ending at Covered Bridge (Milepost 181.9). The pipeline is part of the Utah Lake Drainage Basin Water Delivery System (ULS). This portion of the pipeline is the first 2.3-mile reach of the Spanish Fork Canyon Pipeline that will transport water from Strawberry Reservoir via tunnels and pipelines to Wasatch Front cities in south Utah County and in Salt Lake County, stretching from Santaquin in the south to Salt Lake City in the north.

The construction contract was awarded to W.W. Clyde & Co., a Springville, Utah-based heavy civil construction firm, in October 2007. The contract amount for the project is $24.2 million.

During construction, one lane of traffic will be maintained in each direction along Highway 6 through the work zone. Traffic barriers have been installed to isolate the construction zone from the travel lanes. In the construction zone, the speed limit has been lowered to 55 MPH for the safety of the motoring public and the construction team.

The pipeline will run 2.3 miles underground along the shoulder of Highway 6 west toward Spanish Fork City.

Construction of the pipeline will require dewatering in some areas due to high water tables. A 1,350-ft reach of the pipeline will pass through a high water table area. This reach of pipeline will be encased in concrete, requiring special construction procedures.

An emergency isolation valve chamber will be constructed near the beginning of the Spanish Fork Canyon Pipeline at the mouth of Diamond Fork Creek. The emergency valves will provide the means to close the flow of the pipeline in the event of a major catastrophe in the valley, such as an earthquake, and evacuate the water flowing through the Diamond Fork System into the Spanish Fork River.

The second reach of the Spanish Fork Pipeline, to be constructed in 2010, will transport water to the intersection of U.S. Highway 6 and Highway 89 in Spanish Fork City, near the mouth of the canyon.

University Mall 14-Plex Movie Theater Underway

General contractor Stacey Enterprises of Ogden, Utah and architectural firm The Beck Group of Dallas are in the process of building a new University Mall 14-Plex Movie Theater. Ground broke in January, with plans to open on Thanksgiving weekend.

The estimated $6.5 million project will feature 14 Cinemark movie screens, totaling 51,600-sq-ft. The theater will have a standard two floor layout; the lower level for theaters and the upper level will house the projection rooms. Structurally, the building is made up of pre-cast tilt-up concrete, with details and designs embedded into the wall and will match the current University Mall’s façade; a combination of stone, stucco and paint.

New Hope Church of Nazarene Addition in Progress

Construction began in May on a 10,300-sq-ft addition to the New Hope Church of Nazarene, an existing 4,300-sq-ft building in Boise. Church membership outgrew the current building and Hill Construction of Meridian, Idaho will erect a gym and a new sanctuary. The gym is constructed with CMU block and the sanctuary will be built with wood. The exterior will blend with the current façade of stucco and CMU block.

Pam Bullock of Hill Construction says the project is going smoothly and is slated to be completed in November. The project was designed by Architecture Northwest of Nampa, Idaho.

Unique Concrete Mixes Designed for Large Religious Projects

People living in the Intermountain West may not give construction work on new religious buildings a second thought, as new temples and meetinghouses seem to spring up in neighborhoods on a regular basis, particularly in Utah and Idaho. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is well-known in the area for its attractive structures. What the public might not think about it is what goes on behind the scenes to build these religious buildings.

Ogden, Utah-based Jack B. Parson (JBP) Companies, the ready-mixed concrete arm of Staker Parson Companies, has been involved in two recent noteworthy projects for the LDS Church – the new Church History Library in downtown Salt Lake City, and the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple in the Daybreak Community South Jordan, Utah.

Rod Higley, JBP technical sales representative, provided details on the scope of the company’s work on the two projects, which are very different in purpose and construction.

The Church History Library on the corner of North Temple and Main Street is a joint-venture of general contractors Jacobsen/Swinterton. The 230,000-sq-ft building will have five floors and is expected to be completed in spring 2009. Salt Lake City-based MHTN Architects, Inc. designed the library to visually complement the LDS Church Conference Center to the west with a natural stone wrap.

The state-of-the-art structure was designed to provide perfect temperature control, humidity and storage for the Church’s rare, old documents, including the following: more than 270,000 books, pamphlets and magazines; 240,000 unpublished records; 23,000 audio-visual items; 13,000 collections of photographs; and 3.5 million patriarchal blessings for LDS Church members. The library that will house more than 25 miles of shelving will be home to LDS Church History staff currently working on four floors of the east wing of the Church Office Building across the street.

JBP supplied 21,000-cu-yds of ready-mixed concrete for the structure. Higley says it has been a challenge to pump concrete into the confines of downtown Salt Lake City traffic, but the project is moving along successfully. He says JBP worked closely with Jacobsen/Swinterton to prepare special concrete mixes for the vault that would survive low temperatures of down to -4 degrees Fahrenheit without cracking or shrinking.

“We used the same expertise for the library that we used in creating special ready-mixed concrete for the U.S. Olympic Speed Skating Oval in Kearns,” Higley adds. “Our concrete for the library needed to withstand a cold environment, but also be very strong to support the 25 miles of shelving and the materials that will be archived there.”

In contrast, the new Oquirrh LDS Temple, which sits at the base of the Oquirrh Mountains and faces eastward, is a fairly straight-forward project with steel frame construction and concrete reinforcement. The 60,000-sq-ft building will have 63-ft high walls and a single 193-ft high spire. The temple, designed by Naylor Wentworth Lund Architects of Salt Lake City, will feature a light beige granite exterior with stone imported from China. JBP supplied 5,500-cu-yds of ready-mixed concrete for the project led by general contractor Okland Construction of Salt Lake City. The concrete portion of the work is expected to be complete in late 2008.

This will mark the fourth temple for the LDS Church in the Salt Lake Valley. It sits on a 12-acre site and will be the first temple built in the same city limits of an existing temple, the Jordan River Temple.

“The LDS Church is known for building conservative, stout structures that are built to last many years,” says Higley. “They don’t skimp in their specifications and employ heavy frames as compared to other buildings of the same size. We provided an extremely durable concrete for the temple that will support the service life of the structure.”