Final vote on Legacy?

After years of delay and months of negotiations, the last roadblock to a spring restart of construction on Legacy Parkway is a Nov. 9 vote by the Legislature.

Lawmakers will meet a week from today at 5 p.m. in a special session to vote up or down on the agreement, which was signed late Monday by the Utah Department of Transportation and plaintiffs in the 2001 suit that halted they highway's construction.

A favorable vote on the agreement remains tenuous in the House. Business leaders and deal negotiators, however, believe chances for passage are better than hopeful.

"This is an agreement that is now palatable," said Rep. Stuart Adams, R-Layton. "It is something that we can live with as the state of Utah. It allows the highway to be built. It saves time and it saves money. There are points that I don't like in the agreement, but I can't find a bona fide reason not to approve it."

The final Legacy settlement agreement varies little from a framework agreement signed last month. (UDOT has posted a copy of the final settlement agreement on its Web site: www.udot.utah.gov.) The final agreement, which is 27 pages long, says that trucks over 80,000 pounds or with five axles should be banned from using the roadway.

Additional provisions include a restriction on billboards on state-owned property and changes to the design of Legacy. Those changes include landscaping, a slight curvature added to travel lanes and the paving of a portion of an old railway path owned by the Utah Transit Authority for pedestrian use.

If lawmakers approve the Legacy settlement, UDOT says it is prepared to make changes to an environmental study of the 14-mile roadway between North Salt Lake and Farmington.

UDOT anticipates receiving federal construction permits sometimes in December if the deal is approved. After that, the next step is to go to court and ask that an injunction on construction be lifted, according to UDOT spokesman Tom Hudachko.

A contractor could be hired to build the $680 million road as early as next year.

"We are obviously hopeful that we'll be able to see this thing through until construction," Hudachko said. "But as far as anticipating what way the Legislature may or may not go, that's out of our control."

House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, said House Democrats are key to the legacy settlement being passed.

House Democrats have yet to decide on a firm position about the settlement.