LAYTON -- UDOT has determined the Top of Utah needs a transportation solution on its west side. Now, it is seeking direction on how to meet that need.
As the west Davis corridor study moves along, Utah Department of Transportation officials said another round of open houses will be scheduled in late June or early July to discuss which transportation options would best meet the needs of a growing western portion of Weber and Davis counties.
On Friday, UDOT released its draft "purpose and need" analysis on the project, which states that increased road congestion and delays, and a lack of transit and bicycle infrastructure, make the project a necessity.
Project manager Randy Jeffries said the public has until June 7 to comment on the "purpose and need" document, after which UDOT will begin work on possible solutions.
"The next portion of this study is pretty significant," Jeffries said.
"Now we start looking at modes, so public input is going to be huge. They (the public) are out on the road every day, so we need their help to understand which solutions are the best fit for their community."
For years, an extension of the Legacy Parkway has been thought of as the likely solution for traffic needs in the project area, which encompasses land west of Interstate 15 from 12th Street in Ogden to Parrish Lane in Centerville.
But the study team wants it to be known that an extension of Legacy is only one possible solution that could come from the study.
"There has been so much talk about this study for years, and the perception is that this is only about extending Legacy Parkway," Jeffries said. "But that is only one possible solution."
Jeffries said other solutions include rail systems and even east-west roads.
According to recent traffic statistics from UDOT, 49 percent of trips to and from work in the study area are in the north-south direction, with 24 percent of work trips in the east-west direction. Work trips inside the study area account for 27 percent.
The same statistics say north-south congestion is projected to increase by 269 percent by 2040, while east-west congestion is projected to increase by 131 percent.
With those numbers, a north-south road would seem to be the likely solution.
Not necessarily, Jeffries said.
"A lot of people who are traveling north or south first have to travel east or west, so everything is still wide open," he said. "It could be a north-south route, east-west, some kind of combination. Everything is still on the table."
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