Legacy Highway wanted, needed

Mounting traffic congestion along I-15 in northern Salt Lake County, Davis County and parts of Weber County is apparently wearing thin with commuters.

That's the underlying message of three years of polling among residents of the three counties. Public opinion polls conducted for the Utah Department of Transportation by Dan Jones & Associates show that 53 percent of Utahns support construction of the Legacy Highway in Salt Lake and Davis counties, up from 31 percent in 2001. Moreover, 77 percent of Utahns said they believe the Legacy Highway is worth the investment, now about $468 million.

Of 609 Utahns surveyed in the UDOT poll, Davis County residents were the greatest proponents of the highway, with 86 percent saying they support the plan. That's not surprising, considering the teeming traffic loads along the corridor. A UDOT traffic monitoring station on the interstate at the Bountiful/Centerville line counted 150,289 vehicles per day in 2002, compared to 113,890 in 2000.

Of course, anyone who makes the commute along I-15 doesn't need hard numbers to validate his or her daily experience of heavy traffic, accident delays and longer commute times.

As we have said on many previous occasions, the Legacy Highway needs to be built. If legal hurdles can be cleared, construction could begin as soon as spring 2005, but that's a highly optimistic scenario. Still, the sooner construction can commence, the sooner traffic congestion will ease.

In the meantime, the traffic problems of Davis, Weber and parts of Salt Lake County will require more than highway building. Mass transit in the form of added bus routes, expanded light rail and, eventually, commuter rail, will be needed as long-term solutions to the growing need for workers, students and others to commute into Utah's capital city.

While this poll of Salt Lake, Davis and Weber county residents (which has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent), shows that support for the Legacy Highway has grown considerably in the past three years, some opponents of the project insist that the highway will result in more sprawl and more traffic.

Those excuses are growing tired considering that the vehicle miles driven by Utahns have grown consistently without the Legacy Highway. Because of the landscape of the Wasatch Front, much of it bordered by mountains to the east and The Great Salt Lake to the West, there is a finite supply of buildable land. In other words, Utah's landscape alone will help to curb sprawl.

The Legacy Highway isn't the only answer to growing traffic loads and congestion along that particular stretch of I-15. But it is part of a shared solution that involves a variety of transportation options so drivers have more opportunity to wean themselves from their beloved automobiles.