POCATELLO — The construction at the Interstate 86 and Interstate 15 “Flying Y” System Interchange in the Gate City is nearly complete after three years.

The three-year $112 million project has dramatically changed the drivability of the interchange, according to a news release from the Idaho Transportation Department.

Project Engineer Aaron Baird said in the news release that ITD spent eight years on the project starting from the design phase to the actual construction.

“We’re pretty proud of it,” Baird said in the news release. “It’s one of the bigger projects we’ve designed. It’s one of the largest projects ever designed entirely by ITD staff and inspected with ITD personnel. Most of the people on the team live here locally and this has been a really meaningful project for us to make sure we did our very best.”

There were areas in the project area that were improved during construction. These areas include the northbound Pocatello Creek on-ramp, the northbound-to-westbound collector distributor and the eastbound-to-northbound ramp.

Each of these improvements will make merging from one Interstate to the other smoother and safer for drivers.

“We’re excited for people to use the final product, said Project Manager Greg Roberts. “We hope it’s something that will last a long time and keep the travelling public safe as they use it.”

This project required a huge endeavor to complete. There was a total of 1 million cubic yards of earth that had to be excavated. It also required 490,000 tons of base material, 116,000 tons of asphalt and 7,700 cubic yards of concrete. The project also required 70,000 square feet of retaining wall within the area.

ITD also built eight new bridges during the project. Four of these bridges have precast concrete girders, and the other four have steel girders. Over 5 million pounds of steel was used to build the bridges.

Construction crews worked all year throughout the day during this three year project. There were a few demolition operations that had to be done at night to minimize traffic disruption.

The Chubbuck Road overpass was also reconstructed during the project to be an underpass. This would improve site distances and vertical clearance on I-15. It also improved access to the Portneuf Wellness Complex. The underpass is wide and has more space for bike lanes and sidewalks.

ITD also worked with Portneuf Greenway to construct a pedestrian and bicycle path on the east side of the workspace that was intended to connect the Greenway to the Wellness Center.

“Thank you for being patient with us and seeing our vision, seeing what we’re trying to do to positively impact this community,” Project Manager Zak Johnson said in the news release.

District Engineer Todd Hubbard also expressed gratitude for the community and their patience during the three year project.

“This project has been a great success and is an important addition to the community for the safety of drivers,” Hubbard said in the news release. “It has been a lot of work to get all of it completed and to keep traffic moving. I want to thank everyone for their patience as we have worked on this project over the last three years. And a thank you to the project team and Sundt-Cannon Joint Venture for a project well done.”

Drivers are still encouraged to drive safely on this newly completed road as workers continue to do work on the shoulders of the road and seed the open ground with native grass.