Transportation planners from three separate agencies are combining forces to take an expansive look at road and transit improvement needs between Kaysville and Ogden.

The Utah Department of Transportation, Utah Transit Authority and Wasatch Front Regional Council are developing an "I-15 corridor plan" that will focus on potential transportation enhancements in the area over the next 25 years.

An open house to receive public input is scheduled for Thursday, 3:30-7:30 p.m., at Sunset City Hall, 200 W. 1300 North in Sunset. Comments will continue to be accepted until May 14.

"The study is not for a specific project," UDOT spokesman Andy Neff said. "What we want to do is understand what the transportation needs are within the corridor" and use that information to establish improvements that can be made in both the short-term and long-term.

The study boundaries are from 200 North in Kaysville to 31st Street in Ogden — a north-south length of 13 miles. But the corridor also stretches quite a distance from east to west, from U.S. 89 to the Great Salt Lake.

One needed improvement the agencies already are aware of is the reconstruction of I-15 through the corridor. That project currently is on the regional council's 2030 plan with target dates of somewhere between 2011-2020 for planning and construction work. UDOT estimates it will cost at least $202 million to widen and reconstruct I-15 from Layton to 31st Street in Ogden.

That portion of I-15 now includes three lanes of travel in each direction. It could be widened to include a fourth general-purpose lane and a fifth lane dedicated to high-occupancy vehicles, although the exact scope of work has yet to be determined.

"We would need to do a full-blown environmental study that would indicate what widening would take place," Neff said.

He said that study likely would begin no sooner than 2011, and reconstruction would begin no sooner than two or three years after the environmental work begins.

"Due to the funding issues, we're not going to be able to do probably any large-scale projects before 2011," Neff said. "But there could be some smaller piecemeal-type projects that we can do in the meantime."

For example, UDOT hopes within two or three years it will have funding to add auxiliary lanes to I-15 along a three- to four-mile stretch of I-15 from the Layton Hills Mall to the Hill Air Force Base west gate. Interchange ramps within that area also would be widened and improved.

"We currently have a lot of backing onto the freeway on those (off)ramps, so we would add additional lanes to take traffic out of the main lanes of travel," Neff said.

All types of transit alternatives also are being considered through the corridor, including Bus Rapid Transit. The Salt Lake City-to-Weber County commuter rail line through the project corridor is expected to open in 2007.

For more information, visit the project Web site at www.udot.utah.gov/i-15_kaysville_to_ogden.

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E-mail: zman@desnews.com