The key to the new proposal is changing the minds of Davis County residents to welcome mass transit alternatives, said Roger Borgenicht with Utahns for Better Transportation.

Meanwhile, UDOT continues to push forward with the Legacy Parkway project. After the SEIS is released Friday, a 60-day comment period will begin. Copies of the 900-page document will be made available at local libraries. A large-scale public hearing and simultaneous open house are planned for Jan. 7, 4-9 p.m., at the Davis County Fairgrounds.

Adler said the 60-day comment period is not long enough for Utahns to read and comment on such a huge document during the holiday season. He said the Sierra Club and Utahns for Better Transportation will ask UDOT to extend the comment period to 90 days.

UDOT had just begun construction of the project in November 2001 when the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily shut down the project.

The court ordered UDOT to reassess the project and see if it could: narrow the project's corridor to minimize impact to the Great Salt Lake wetlands; see if the road could be constructed on the old Denver & Rio Grande Railroad right of way; examine the sequencing of road and transit alternatives; and revisit the road's impact on neighboring wildlife habitat.

The SEIS addressed all of those issues, Njord said. As a result, the width of the Legacy Parkway's median has been reduced by 16 feet, from 66 to 50 feet, for a total corridor width of 312 feet.

"We found we could reduce it and still have a safe facility," Njord said.

The SEIS also concluded that building within the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad corridor would cost at least another $100 million and would require removal of an additional 150 to 280 homes and businesses. UDOT is not recommending that alternative.

UDOT also determined the Legacy Parkway needs to be constructed as soon as possible, rather than after transit improvements — including the Utah Transit Authority's commuter rail line, planned for a 2007 opening — are built and allowed to develop ridership. At best, those transit projects will carry 6 percent of the transportation load in southern Davis County, UDOT deputy director Carlos Braceras said, and that isn't enough to reduce the need for the Legacy Parkway.

"Legacy has to happen now," Njord added. "And what we find is the need for the Legacy grows every day."

UDOT completed a nearly 5-inch-thick technical analysis of wildlife impact stretching from the foothills to the lake — far beyond the initial study, which considered only impacts to wildlife within 1,000 feet of the road.