• Begin planning and construction of the North Legacy Highway, which would extend the Legacy Parkway through northern Davis County.

• Expand the Utah Transit Authority's TRAX light-rail system with spurs to West Valley City, Salt Lake International Airport, Midvale-West Jordan and Draper.

• Start a Bus Rapid Transit system in Davis, Utah and Weber counties.

"I don't think there will be anybody that can dispute the (transportation) needs along the Wasatch Front," said UDOT executive director John Njord. "We've all been able to identify what the needs are and that's because we're looking, 10, 20, 30 years into the future. And when you lay out what the needs are out there, they are tremendous.

"The difficulty comes in how do you address those needs with all the other competing needs, which are every bit as valid as this one, and that's where the Legislature and the governor have a struggle to balance things out and make sure everything in taken care of . . ."

Many state lawmakers have a similar awareness.

During a recent transportation budget meeting, Rep. Joseph Murray, R-Ogden expressed frustration that the state couldn't pay for all the transportation needs. UDOT is facing a $700,000 shortfall in its maintenance budget — one of the agency's top areas of work.

"We can't do it all," said Murray. "I think as we look at this, we've got to put things in the right priority."

Added Rep. Dave Ure, R-Kamas: "Where do we draw the line with need and also realizing all this money we play with is coming out of taxpayers' pockets?"

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E-mail: zman@desnews.com; nwarburton@desnews.com