LEHI — Adam Lankford walked into the UDOT open-house meeting on the Mountain View Corridor Wednesday night, looked at the maps on the wall that showed a proposed road right next to his property, and walked out, thinking he should move.

Lankford was one of more than 80 residents from the area who attended the meeting to learn more about the highway project that would run through Lehi. Though the presentation dealt heavily with UDOT's options to fund the proposed roadway, a majority of comments and questions from audience members dealt with concerns over houses that stand in the way of the Mountain View Corridor.

"It's a tough issue, and I know not everybody's on the same page with it," Mountain View Corridor project manager Teri Newell said.

Newell said UDOT is still calculating the number of houses that would be affected by the proposed road in Utah County and that more than just homes in Lehi would be affected. Saratoga Springs, West Valley City, Riverton and Magna also have houses in the corridor's path.

Newell said UDOT may eventually assess the properties affected and either purchase them or pay relocating fees to the owners.

UDOT presented four options for the Utah County portion of the corridor. Though not all of the options run directly through houses, proposed roads on 1500 South and 1900 South would. The city of Lehi has expressed support for building a road on 1000 South that would affect fewer properties.

However, even if UDOT chooses a "preferred option" by the end of the year — its stated goal for the Mountain View Corridor — properties lying outside the corridor would not necessarily be safe forever.

"Eventually, all three of these roads would be needed, no matter what Mountain View does," said Geoff Dupaix, a representative from UDOT. "What Mountain View is trying to figure out is what's going to be the best long-range option to deal with the growth that is taking place in this area."

Some residents at the meeting said a better long-range measure would be to extend a light-rail system into the valley that connects the west side of Utah County.

"I don't care for buses that much, but I'd get on a light rail in an instant," said Sean Hammond, who attended the meeting. "I think the funding should go to TRAX."

Funding is an issue UDOT is stressing in all of its public meetings. According to the department's calculations, UDOT is short $16.5 billion for all of the road construction that needs to take place before 2030.

UDOT is in the final stages of completing its environmental impact survey and plans to have a public hearing and a final decision on the project by 2007. If UDOT can get enough funding for the project, for example, by creating a tolling system on the roads, construction could start in 2009. If UDOT cannot secure funds for the project, it is unknown when construction would start.

The final public meeting for this phase of the Mountain View Corridor is set for Wednesday at the Riverton City Hall.

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