Fingers point at Legacy cost

Opponents of the Legacy Parkway say they are sick of the state "pointing fingers" and diverting blame for the roadway's rising costs.

At least $217 million is needed to complete the project — and responsibility for that increase lies clearly with the state, said Marc Heileson, regional representative for the Sierra Club.

"Through bad actions, the Utah Department of Transportation has squandered public money," Heileson said Friday. "Now they're having to ask the Legislature for more money, and instead of accepting responsibility for signing a bad contract, they point the finger somewhere else."

On Thursday, that finger was pointing at the Sierra Club.

During a legislative budget meeting, UDOT executive director John Njord said he was 75 percent confident another lawsuit would be filed to halt construction of the roadway — taking at least $75 million from taxpayers who must pay for project delays.

"Their modus operandi is very clearly defined," said Njord Friday. "One, they create delay. Two, they increase the cost of a project. Three, they try to erode public and political support for the project, ultimately resulting in the death of the project."

Heileson calls those claims "unprofessional."

On Friday, he hand-delivered a letter to the governor, calling Thursday's comments by Njord and deputy director Carlos Braceras "unbefitting of any public official."

A Sierra Club representative along with three others signed the letter, asking for a fair representation of where blame lies.

"Not only have they badly misrepresented the history of this matter and the actual reasons the state incurred significant delay costs, they also inexplicably sought to undermine the discussions we mutually agreed to before they have begun," reads the letter. "This is classic duplicity, bearing an olive branch in one hand while wielding a dagger behind one's back."

Njord stands by his earlier words.

"They brought the gun to this fight, they loaded the gun, they aimed it, they pulled the trigger and they hit their target," said Njord. "Unfortunately for all of us, their target was every citizen in the state of Utah. We're all paying for their actions."

In 2001, the Sierra Club, Utahns for Better Transportation and Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson filed a successful lawsuit in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. UDOT was asked to complete a supplemental study of Legacy and review five areas of the project.

Three years later — with millions in delay costs — UDOT says the new study just reaffirmed its past work on the project.

It also hurt Utah taxpayers.