Long wait almost over / Commuters ready to drive new $685M highway after 10-year building battle
Text 
1 Comment [ View ]By MITCH SHAW
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
WOODS CROSS -- After more than a decade of waiting, Top of Utah motorists will have another option for their weekday commute beginning Saturday.
Slowed by lawsuits, court injunctions and public opposition criticizing the state for building through federally protected wetland, the Legacy Parkway and Nature Preserve is finally a reality.
The $685 million, 14-mile parkway is the south Davis segment of the larger Legacy Highway project, eventually envisioned to extend from Brigham City to Nephi.
The project first came to light in the mid-'90s when transportation officials and state lawmakers realized space on Interstate 15 was quickly growing harder to come by.
Construction began in January 2001, but the threat of impending litigation from parkway opponents slowed work on the project later that summer.
Eventually, the federal district court allowed the Utah Department of Transportation to continue construction, but in November 2001, work was entirely halted after an injunction from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
In September 2002, the federal court ruled against the state for environmental violations in the permitting process.
After UDOT released a supplemental environmental impact statement that addressed construction plan deficiencies, the Legislature approved an agreement between UDOT and opponents from the Sierra Club's Utah chapter and Utahns for Better Transportation.
Heavy construction began on the parkway in December 2006.
"There was a time in the process when a lot of people said this was impossible," said Utah Transportation Commission Chairman Stuart Adams, "so I guess on Saturday, we will see the impossible happen."
Adams, a former Layton city councilman and state lawmaker who has supported the road since its beginning, said many concessions were made to make the parkway a reality.
"There was a lot of compromise on both sides," he said. "The facility is extremely well done. Not only does it accommodate the need for more capacity, but it's also environmentally friendly. It's got the trail system and some other features that make it truly unique."
The parkway, which has already been given a scenic byway designation, will feature a 2,225-acre wildlife preserve on its west side, a meandering roadway instead of a traditional straight-freeway design, a multi-use trail system, a 55 mph speed limit, "quiet pavement" and a ban on large trucks to limit noise disturbance to nearby wildlife.
Sierra Club representative Marc Heileson recently toured the parkway and said the design has taken a 180-degree turn from the original six-lane, interstate-style freeway.
He said that original design would have spawned big-box retail stores and hurt the nearby wildlife.
"We are quite pleased with it," he said. "UDOT did a complete redesign from what they had originally planned. We have the nature preserve, an environmentally sensitive road and now a mass-transit system. It's important to have that balance and give people options.
"I think it shows we are trying to build for people and not just cars. Hopefully, it will represent a full paradigm shift in how we look at transportation."
Davis County Public Works Director Kirk Schmalz inspected Legacy last week and said the road is "one of the nicest things I've ever seen."
Transportation officials say 30 percent of I-15 traffic will move to the parkway. Their hope is that Legacy, FrontRunner commuter rail and the expansion of I-15 will partner to combat Northern Utah's growing congestion problems.
Also, $2.5 million has been set aside to study the possibility of bus rapid transit and light-rail transit in southern Davis County.
"Everybody is familiar with I-15 near Farmington -- especially commuters," said UDOT spokesman Nile Easton.
"Now we not only have all that traffic coming off the freeway, but we have another alternative if I-15 gets shut down because of an accident or something. This region is going to be a lot better off."
To celebrate the historic opening, UDOT will host a run, walk and bike ride on the corridor to raise money for the Hess Cancer Foundation, a Kaysville organization that provides financial assistance to families who lose a young child to cancer and aren't financially prepared for it.
The run will begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at 500 S. Legacy Parkway in Woods Cross.
Gov. Jon Huntsman will officially dedicate the road at 4 p.m. in a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Legacy Parkway: Decades of work
* 1990s: Concept of highway from Brigham City to Nephi discussed.
* January 2001: Work begins on Legacy Parkway's Davis arm.
* August 2001: Threat of impending litigation limits work on project's northern part.
* Aug. 10, 2001: Federal district court gives workers green light to aggressively begin building parkway.
* Nov. 16, 2001: Work stopped by an injunction from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. Design work and right-of-way acquisition allowed to continue.
* March 20, 2002: Court hears Legacy case.
* Sept. 16, 2002: Court finds in favor of project on 41 of 45 issues. Injunction left in place.
* 2004: Supplemental environmental impact statement addresses deficiencies.
* January 2005: Public comment begins on SEIS.
* Sept. 21, 2005: Gov. Jon Huntsman, Utah Department of Transportation, Sierra Club and Utahns for Better Transportation announce agreement in principle to settle Legacy Parkway case.
* Nov. 9, 2005: Utah Legislature approves agreement.
* Jan. 23, 2005: Federal Highway Administration and U.S. Corps of Engineers approve SEIS.
* September 23, 2006: Call for construction bids advertised.
* December 2006: Heavy construction launched throughout parkway corridor.
* October 2007: Construction on parkway reaches halfway point.
* Sept. 13, 2008: Legacy opens to vehicular traffic.
Source: Utah Department of Transportation
Add Your Comment
This sure looks cool form the arial photo. I am looking forward to test driving it out. I think it will cutdown traffic at least one third.