Legacy work is focusing on environment issues

NORTH SALT LAKE — The sun beats on a crew of men laying wood on the steel frame of a new 400-foot-long bridge that will be a route for Interstate 215 where the Legacy Parkway begins in Davis County.

Just under this structure are the rebar skeletons of two smaller bridges that motorists will use to merge onto the parkway from I-215, or vice versa. In the distance is a stretch of dry, undeveloped land that is now protected as the Legacy Nature Preserve.

After four years of litigation delay, four months of settlement negotiations and 10 months to redesign construction plans, work on Legacy is clearly progressing along with an unusual focus on environmental safety and awareness during construction. The road is about one-third finished and on schedule to open by October next year.

"It's been a long time coming to get this road here," said Todd Jensen, Legacy project manager with the Utah Department of Transportation. "Come 2008, it should be a big difference for commuters."

The most visible aspects of construction are on the north and south ends of the 14-mile highway, where crews are working on massive interchange projects. In North Salt Lake, crews are working on three bridges: Two will connect I-215 to Legacy, and the third is a new route for southbound travelers on I-215.

In Farmington, bridges are being built to stretch up to 4,000 feet over the Utah Transit Authority's commuter rail line and Interstate 15. It will connect to Park Lane. Beyond this, crews are working to clear ground for paving, build culverts for drainage, complete some bridge structures for pedestrian and river crossings and build two smaller interchanges.

UDOT officials estimate Legacy will take 30 percent of the traffic off nearby I-15, which, according to 2005 statistics, carries an average of 130,000 cars a day. A network of trails will also be built next to the road, and wetlands will be restored in the 2,225 acre Legacy Nature Preserve, which is being used to mitigate for the nearly 100 acres of wetlands destroyed by Legacy.

Building Legacy is a unique challenge, Jensen said. It's near several housing developments, and in Farmington, the road runs adjacent to I-15, U.S. 89, the Utah Transit Authority's commuter rail system and big power lines.

Legacy's proximity to the Great Salt Lake wetlands has been a source of contention over the highway, and to lessen the impact of construction on the wetlands, workers are required to pass a two-hour environmental-safety test before being allowed on the construction site.