Legacy Parkway to get into gear soon

In 23 months or less, Utah residents should be able to drive the Legacy Parkway, if construction goes as planned.

The Utah Department of Transportation on Tuesday announced a construction schedule and contractors that will likely build the 14-mile parkway, planned to run from North Salt Lake to Farmington. Contracts will be finalized over the next week, and work on the road is planned to begin next Tuesday, UDOT said.

The agency aims to have Legacy open to the public by Sept. 30, 2008.

"Today was the last major hurdle for the Legacy Parkway," project manager John Thomas said Tuesday. "We've rounded the last corner, and in the last 23 months, we'll begin the final sprint to be able to open in the fall of 2008."

Work on Legacy will be done in three segments. UDOT has yet to officially award contracts to the contractors, but Thomas said Tuesday that the agency will "very likely" award contracts to the following companies: Ames & Wadsworth Contractors, Ames Contractors and Clyde-Geneva Constructors.

All are local companies that UDOT has worked with before, Thomas said. The companies were selected based on low bids and will work together using materials and designs that UDOT has specified through engineering work done the past year.

"The 500 people who have helped design the Legacy Parkway in a record time have developed plans that will provide a consistent approach to construction, both in materials and quality of the finished product," Thomas said.

The first segment of Legacy runs from the I-215 interchange in North Salt Lake to 500 South in Bountiful. It will be built by Ames & Wadsworth Contractors for $95.6 million.

The second segment runs from 500 South to Glovers Lane in Farmington. It will be built by Ames Contractors for $80.5 million. Ames is the same company working with Wadsworth on the first segment. The last segment runs to the Park Lane interchange in Farmington and will be built by Clyde-Geneva for $99.7 million.

Thomas said that the contractors will be required to have monitors out on the Legacy construction site to ensure that the road is built in a way that's sensitive to the environment. Those monitors will check to see that erosion controls are in place and that animals and habitat are protected.