SOUTH JORDAN — Saturday was a special moment for the Chesley family as they got to be the first to cross a new pedestrian bridge over Bangerter Highway.
Jacob Chesley, 38, is in a wheelchair and has cerebral palsy, making him unable to walk or talk. But that doesn’t stop him from enjoying walks with his uncle Kurt.
The two used to frequently use the crosswalk on Bangerter Highway by 9800 South, but it has been closed due to construction since March.
“We were going to try to be the last ones to cross that one, but life got busy, and next thing I knew, it was gone,” Kurt Chesley said.
Utah Department of Transportation engineer Nick Clark lives in the same neighborhood as the Chesleys and was in charge of the pedestrian bridge project. He kept the Chesleys updated on the progress, and on Saturday, he held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the bridge with them.
The Chesleys then had the honor of being the first ones to cross above Bangerter Highway by the 9800 South intersection. Kurt Chesley said Jacob was so excited leading up to the ceremony that they could continue their walks along the path they had frequented for so long.
“He has been way excited about it. This whole ribbon cutting thing … it’s all for him,” Kurt Chesley said about Jacob Chesley. “It’s Jacob’s claim to fame, I guess you could say.”
Clark’s two sons cut the ribbon and accompanied the Chesleys on the inaugural crossing of the bridge.
“It’s really nice to get that human touch and realize a lot of times we forget that real people use these structures. It’s nice to realize what you do does make a difference in people’s lives,” Clark said.
Kurt Chesley said because Jacob Chesley can’t do very much on his own, their walks together have had a “significant” impact. Jacob Chesley’s mother will call Kurt to say Jacob has been poking her, his way of asking to go on a walk.
“It can be a blizzard, and he can be poking, wanting to go for a walk,” Kurt Chesley said. “We have had a connection his whole life. Just doing all kinds of walks all the time.”
Jacob Chesley communicates by pointing at symbols in a book. After crossing the bridge, he brushed over the “thank you” symbol on his book with a smile.
“They do a fantastic job — the city employees and UDOT — in keeping things accessible to individuals that don’t have a great deal of accessibility. And the safety factor too; the kids that are going to cross that bridge for years to come, some aren’t even born yet,” Kurt Chesley said.
The new bridge will provide safer access to neighborhoods and for students at Elk Meadows Elementary School and Elk Ridge Middle School.
The bridge was a significant investment, Kurt Chesley said, but “every penny of it’s gonna be worth it for the kids that go back and forth for school — and us too, on our occasional walk.”
The 9800 South construction is part of several projects along Bangerter Highway where UDOT is transforming typical intersections into freeway-style interchanges. UDOT said these projects will enhance safety and help keep the average of 60,000 vehicles of daily traffic moving.
“This was a great opportunity to highlight accessibility for folks,” UDOT spokesman Nic Naylor said. “With this bridge being built, it expands where they can walk to back to where it was before and then give some new accessibility to go as far as they want.”
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