Led by two Springville City fire trucks, a long line of motorists drove up and over a new bridge on 400 South in Springville for the first time Thursday after the reconstructed road was officially declared open for traffic.

“Now the time has come to get this baby open!” said Kent Millington, a member of the Utah State Transportation Commission, to cheers from the crowd attending a brief ceremony celebrating completion of the road. The ceremony was held at 3 p.m. Thursday on top of the new bridge located at 1500 West and 400 South.

The fire trucks broke through a large banner declaring construction over and proceeded down the east side of the bridge while crowd members shot off confetti cannons, then went back to their cars to join the procession.

Also known as SR-77, the road has been closed since early January for a complete overhaul, including the construction of three new bridges. The interchange at 400 South and I-15 was reconstructed and a new larger bridge constructed, and an aging bridge over railroad tracks at 400 West was torn down and rebuilt.

At 1500 West, a new bridge was raised to allow traffic to go over a set of railroad tracks where trains frequently caused major traffic backups.

The entire project cost about $93 million.

At Thursday’s ceremony, Springville Mayor Gene Mangum praised those who had worked on the project and made it successful. “It was a little overwhelming because I’d never seen so many government entities working together on one project,” Mangum said.

City officials decided to close the road for 11 months rather than allow some traffic through during the construction process in order to cut about six months off the construction schedule.

UDOT had scheduled to have the road completed by Nov. 20.

“We’re one day early,” said Utah State Representative Francis Gibson during the ceremony, a comment that also drew cheers from the crowd. As one of two accesses from Springville to I-15, the closure of 400 South meant lengthy detours for residents of Springville and nearby Mapleton.

“Citizens that had to make the drive around and the patience for 11 months  –  it’s well worth it,” Gibson said.

Utah County Constructors, a joint venture between Wadsworth Brothers Construction and Staker Parson Companies, did the construction work on the project, said Travis Farr, a Utah County Constructors project manager.

Farr said there is some sidewalk and landscaping work that still needs to be done in the freeway interchange area and between the bridge at 400 West and Springville’s Main Street. “Other than that, it’s just cleanup” left to do on the project, he said.