PROVO — Motorists drove up and down a steep, winding new road that opened Wednesday and now connects a northeast Provo neighborhood to University Avenue and the Shops at Riverwoods.

Dignitaries and mascots from Brigham Young University and Provo and Timpview high schools celebrated the ribbon-cutting Wednesday morning.

The road begins at University Avenue on the valley floor as 4800 North, then winds uphill to the Edgemont neighborhood where it connects to 4525 North, which farther east is Foothill Drive, the road that leads to residences on the Provo bench.

Provo traffic engineers project the road will serve 6,000 vehicles per day immediately and more than 14,000 vehicles per day by 2020.

"This is an important day for Provo," Mayor Lewis Billings said. "This segment of Foothill Drive and 4800 North will serve motorists well by enhancing traffic flows, making traffic more efficient and providing important access to commercial areas for residents in the northeast part of Provo."

Construction began in 2002 but bogged down in controversy when a group of landowners refused to sell a final plot to the city.

Provo tried to take the land by eminent domain, but the Utah Supreme Court ruled the city couldn't because the property technically isn't in Provo — it's on an island of unincorporated land in the middle of the city.

Utah County agreed to take the land for Provo, which agreed to shoulder all the costs, but construction waited again until the Supreme Court OK'd the deal.

The city deposited $600,000 with the 4th District Court last fall as a down payment for the landowners while the court case over the value of the land continues.

The land had been owned by Newell Johnson, who died in March 2006 at age 99, and a partnership called Spring Canyon Limited.

The connector road had been a part of city and county master plans since the early 1970s, according to Provo officials. It includes a pedestrian pathway and bike lanes.

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