From Deseret News archives:
Ambitious transit and road plans released
3 studies outline more than $50 billion in projects
Included on the outline of needed projects: the Mountain View Corridor, I-15 in Utah County, commuter rail from Salt Lake City into Utah County, and preservation of land for a northern extension of the Legacy Parkway.
A transit line along 5600 West in Salt Lake County is also tentatively on the list — a source of frustration for transit advocates such as the Sierra Club. Planners say they are waiting for the Utah Department of Transportation to finish a study of the adjacent Mountain View Corridor before the transit line is firmly added or taken off the list.
The public can comment on all the studies over the next month.
"This is the time for residents to look at what projects are on the regional transportation plan and provide comment," Chuck Chappell, director of the Wasatch Front Regional Council, said Friday. "You the residents are using these transportation plans."
The three studies are called Draft Regional Transportation Plans and were done by UDOT, the Regional Council and Mountainland Association of Governments. The Regional Council oversees transportation planning in Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, Tooele and Morgan counties. Mountainland oversees planning in Utah County.
Other groups in Cache and Washington counties have done separate plans.
Chappell, director of the Regional Council, said Friday he would encourage the public to give any input because any road or transit project that is built in the state must be on a regional plan.
In the Regional Council's proposal, $14 billion of highway projects are recommended, including interchange improvements in Davis County and enhancements to east-west roads in Salt Lake County. Those east-west fixes include widening projects and possible construction of new roads
About $16 billion in transit projects are planned, including commuter rail and the four new TRAX lines that Salt Lake County voters agreed to fund last November with a sales tax increase. Operation and maintenance costs are included in the $16 billion price tag for transit.
In Utah County, about $13 billion is planned for highways and $2.6 billion for transit. The highway plan includes fixes to several roads next to I-15. The transit plan includes commuter rail through the county.
UDOT, which does long-range planning for rural parts of the state, also has billions in recommended improvements such as passing lanes on U.S. 6.
Money for all projects included in the regional plans is not currently available, according to planners. Chappell said gas tax, sales tax and other funding increases will be needed to pay for the projects.
E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com
