For rush-hour regulars on I-15, the need for another freeway linking Salt Lake and Utah counties is as clear as the brake lights in front of them.

How to build that freeway is where the issue gets hazy.

Wednesday, the Utah Department of Transportation hosts the first of more than a dozen town hall meetings this summer to update the public about plans for Mountain View. The meetings will focus on statewide transportation funding issues and their relation to the Mountain View Corridor and the state's yearlong toll road study, said Teri Newell, UDOT project manager for Mountain View.

The west-side freeway, planned to run from I-80 in Salt Lake County to northwest Utah County, has become the subject of intense talk, as residents and local leaders complain about the fairness of toll roads, specifically near rapidly growing west-side cities.

"We need the road badly, and a toll road ends up impacting us far more than the rest of the valley," said West Jordan Mayor David Newton. "If roads are a regional issue and we have a regional transportation plan, then the region ought to help pay for it."

Building Mountain View as a toll road is the only identified way to get it built within the next several years, according to UDOT. Otherwise, no funding exists.

"We have an increased need for infrastructure, and the resources have not kept up," Newell said in an interview Monday.

Over the next 25 years, transportation planners estimate the state will face a $16.5 billion funding deficit for road projects in the state. The 35-mile Mountain View Corridor, alone, is projected to cost more than $1 billion.

Residents, however, aren't quite convinced that tolling is the only way to get the road built now.

Clay Christensen of South Jordan says the Legislature isn't doing its job to fund roads. He plans to attend Wednesday's meeting.

"If the Legislature were doing their job and allocating money for roads — where it needs to be — we would have roads," he said.

But whether the Mountain View Corridor becomes a toll road ultimately is up to the Utah Transportation Commission, which has legislative authority to approve toll roads in Utah and other managed lane solutions, like high-occupancy toll lanes or reversible lanes.

If Mountain View is given the green light as a toll road, construction could begin as soon as 2009, Newell said. If not, the project would be on hold until funding could be secured, she said.

This fall, UDOT plans to release a toll study of Mountain View. Route alternatives will also be released. The agency is studying four alternatives for the road in Utah County and two in Salt Lake County. Information about those alternatives will be available at the town hall meetings.

The town hall meetings are the first time UDOT has "gone to the public in a public meeting format" since last summer, said UDOT spokesman Nile Easton. Opportunity to comment on plans has been available through e-mail and by phone, he said.

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