Finding the best route for the Legacy Highway
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Wednesday, November 7, 2007
By Kirsten Schull
Guest commentary
Last week many of us went to the Utah Department of Transportation-sponsored meeting regarding the proposed corridors for the Legacy Highway through Weber County. Most of us went thinking that the corridor was absolutely set to run along 5100 West most of the way through our county. And many of us, after talking with local politicians and some UDOT officials, left with the same impression.
At this meeting, we were all invited to give our feedback, either directly on the papers provided, or by e-mail or mail to the addresses listed on those papers. I stayed after the meeting and talked at length with the UDOT officials who are responsible for assessing the feedback, gathering a great deal of information about the proposed routes, and making recommendations for the highway to our local politicians. I came away convinced that there is still much room for us, as citizens, to have our opinions and voices heard, and to actually influence the outcome.
My reasons for advocating the easternmost route are:
1) optimum traffic relief from I-15, the stated primary goal for the Legacy Highway;
2) fewer environmental disruptions and resulting expensive lawsuits;
3) reaping the benefits of burying the power lines along the Rocky Mountain Power corridor; and
4) preserving the farmlands and small communities that are the essence of western Weber County.
At first there were 23 corridors initially proposed. Various objections have been raised to all of them, and the 5100 West route has been fairly well accepted by our local politicians. However, according to the UDOT officials I spoke with, and the Wasatch Front Regional Council Web site, the route along 5100 West is far from the ideal route. When completed in 2030, their studies project this route would only relieve 8,000 cars a day from I-15, while another, preferable route, following the existing Rocky Mountain Power corridor, would relieve 30,000 cars a day (see page 21 of the Wasatch Front Regional Council Web site, www.wfrc.org). Since the point of building the Legacy Highway is to relieve the traffic pressure on I-15, common sense indicates that this would be the best route by far, as it would relieve nearly four times the traffic pressure. This is of highest importance: If the highway is built for this purpose, let it fulfill that purpose! If you care to see the evidence of this, please go to the Web site, where all the display boards posted at the meeting are available. (Click on "Display boards for the North Legacy Transportation Corridor Study Open House that was held on Thursday, October 25, 2007, at Fremont High School.")
In addition to this reason for preferring a more eastern route, there would be far fewer environmental challenges to face. One of the most expensive aspects of the Legacy Highway built to date is the onslaught of environmental lawsuits that challenge every encroachment near the lake. Keeping the highway more east would lessen the number and severity of these lawsuits, and greatly reduce the added cost of fighting the lawsuits, which so far has run into the tens of millions on the southern stretch of the highway.
One reason our local politicians have reasoned that the highway could not run along the Rocky Mountain Power corridor is that the power lines would have to be buried, and an additional 30-60 feet right of way purchased, which would be quite expensive: about $1 million a mile. Considering the many millions that would be saved in environmental lawsuits avoided by keeping the eastern route, we feel that is a cheap price to pay. It is conceivable, in fact, that a private-public partnership between the taxpayers/local governments and Rocky Mountain Power might be created, where costs for burying the power lines would be shared.
Burying the power lines would have its own additional benefits, including a reduction in the loss of ambient power (power lost into the atmosphere by wires strung through the air), a reduction in dangerous electromagnetic discharges into the atmosphere, and an aesthetic improvement that would make surrounding land more valuable.
Another very strong reason for not running the route along 5100 West is that we ought to preserve much of the farmland of western Weber County. Farmers feed our people, and their intrinsic value to our communities cannot be overstated.
The rural nature of western Weber County is its very character. To cut this swath through many farms, which have existed for generations, would be simplistic, thoughtless and needless. Further, many established communities, some decades old, even a few over 100 years old, will be divided by this route. These communities deserve to be respected, and not paved over for the convenience of commuters.
I invite interested citizens to give their feedback to the UDOT study group at the following addresses, or you may sign a letter from concerned citizens which I will be submitting. This feedback will be accepted until Saturday (Nov. 10), after which no more public input will be considered in the proposal UDOT will submit. In addition to making your own opinions known, I urge you to talk with neighbors and friends in your community who have an interest in influencing the route of the Legacy Highway. As there are many communities along the 5100 West route, we each need to make sure all our communities' opinions are heard.
If I can be of any help or guidance to you in your community, please feel free to contact me at 732-9596.
If you have questions or concerns, or to leave your feedback, please contact Bethany Matsumori: phone (801) 364-0088, ext. 109; fax: (801) 364-0072; or e-mail at Bethany@wfandco.com. Please provide your own contact information when you contact her. To write a letter, please send it to: North Legacy Transportation Corridor Study Team, 1371 East 2100 South, Suite 100, Salt Lake City, Utah 84105.
Schull lives in Warren.
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