Mapping transportation

WEST VALLEY CITY — A vision statement for transportation projects on the west side of Salt Lake and northern Utah counties, including options such as a new freeway and streetcar system, passed another milepost Wednesday.

A community task force organized by Envision Utah approved the vision statement and map for future transportation projects in the so-called Mountain View Corridor.

The statement is a very general guideline for growth, planning and development — as it relates to and impacts transportation — for an expansive area on either side of 5600 West from Salt Lake City into northern Utah County.

The document and map, approved by the Mountain View Corridor Growth Choices Stakeholder Committee during its final meeting Wednesday at the E Center, keep all of the options open for how transportation needs within the corridor may be met.

Those options include a six-lane, limited-access freeway that would follow a utility corridor along 5800 West for much of its length. But they also include transit alternatives such as Bus Rapid Transit and a "small" light rail, or streetcar, system.

The committee included members whose primary interest is the construction of the proposed freeway, as well as those whose primary interest is in building transit facilities before or instead of a new road.

Sierra Club representatives were successful in replacing one paragraph in the vision statement to say that the sequencing of transportation projects should be studied to determine what would be best for the community — allowing for the possibility that transit projects could be given a priority.

West Jordan Mayor Bryan Holladay said no matter what the exact solutions turn out to be, it is clear something needs to be done to improve mobility in the corridor.

"It's critical to get people moving on the west side because they just can't get to I-15 very easily, so we're glad to see that happening," Holladay said of the planning process.

The vision statement now will be sent to local governing bodies in the area (including Salt Lake County) over the next six to nine months for their approval, then forwarded on to the Utah Department of Transportation.

UDOT is working on an environmental impact statement for the corridor, which it expects to complete by the summer of 2006. That document will go a long way toward determining which transit and road projects will be built.

"We've still got a long way to go," Holladay said.