UDOT sees success for new Legacy plan

They've been after it for years. Clamored for it.

But each time plans move forward, someone stands up to protest — and a barricade is thrown up. Nine years later, those in favor have only a stack of environmental studies and four miles of uncompleted road to show for their work.

Meet the Legacy Parkway. A 14-mile highway designed to provide an alternative to I-15 into Davis County.

Today, the Utah Department of Transportation will hold an open house to gather comment about Legacy. UDOT has a new plan and a new approach to the road that has been halted time and time again.

This time, UDOT officials say, it will be built.

It must be built, says Davis Commissioner Dannie McConkie.

Each month the crush of commuters from Davis County into Salt Lake City grows. And motorists are sick of sitting in traffic. Sick of tapping their brakes. Sick of having no alternative to I-15.

"I have to wonder if (opposition to this road) is all smoke and mirrors," he said. "Legacy should be built. Truth and right is on its side. Yes, it will cost money. And this delay has made it so the taxpayers will spend money. But it's doing the right thing for the right reason."

Davis residents seem to agree. A Dan Jones poll shows that nearly 86 percent support the road.

But opponents argue that Davis commuters are missing the bigger picture.

"This is emblematic of a much broader thing," said Robert Adler, a University of Utah law professor who has fought Legacy for the past nine years.

"This is a major decision that will help us define who we are and what we look like."

Picture this, he says: walkable neighborhoods with little shops. Less smog. Less congestion. Improved quality of life.

Or there's the alternative: sprawl and destruction of more than 100 acres of Great Salt Lake wetlands. Nearly $600 million in construction and litigation costs.

"It's like opening Pandora's Box," said Lynn de Freitas, president of Friends of the Great Salt Lake.

Call it stubbornness. But Legacy foes believe a better legacy can be built for Utah.

And they have a plan: Build rail for commuter trains. Buy more buses. Expand existing roadways. Focus on "quality growth" rather than conventional.