Legacy Parkway opens to public on Saturday

Lynn de Freitas, executive director for Friends of the Great Salt Lake, took a tour of the Legacy Parkway a few weeks ago.

"I'm delighted. ... There's a lot going for it," she said, hoping it will set a pattern for more "multimodal answers" to transportation problems.

"Turning a freeway into a parkway" is a very good environmental solution, she believes.

Former Rep. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, was part of a team of lawmakers pushing for the Legacy Parkway settlement to pass. Today Adams is head of the state's Transportation Commission.

"It's phenomenal to have the road open," Adams said. "None of us knew it would take this long. ... It will be significant for those who commute to Salt Lake, almost emotional."

He said he's met north Davis County commuters in recent years who found it has been easier to travel I-84 up Weber Canyon to Park City and then down I-80 to reach Salt Lake City rather than go on congested I-15 in Davis County.

"That's not economical," Adams said, believing the Legacy Parkway will result in an improved quality of life for northern Utah residents.

"Sept. 13 will be a great day for all northern Utah," Adams said. "It has been a significant effort for everyone involved."

Campagna said all the Legacy legal delays meant UDOT had to totally redo its plans and obviously led to the parkway's creation — a big plus for aesthetics as well as recreational users.

"The trails weren't a required component for the roadway," he stressed.

The trails associated with Legacy are simply amazing and will all open when the highway does. They interconnect with other trails, like the old Denver & Rio Grande rail trail and the Jordan River Parkway. All paths also have overpasses or underpasses to safely traverse Legacy.

Campagna said no one at UDOT knew what a parkway involved when that concept came along. Visits back east were necessary.

He stressed there's still a lot of landscaping work yet to do after the highway opens. However, an 8-inch waterline to water vegetation along the highway is already in place. Trail segments, too, will have to close again in coming months for more landscaping work.

"The nature preserve is the crown jewel of this project," Campagna said.

This is a 2,225-acre wildlife preserve on Legacy's west side and east of the shores of the Great Salt Lake.

"We drew a line in the sand," he said. Development will never occur west of the Legacy Highway, as an environmental protection. Campagna said UDOT cleaned tons of garbage and debris on this land and returned it to its original state. It also moved power lines and utilities. Now a single high voltage line remains, because it was too expensive to move.