UDOT study: Without help, Davis and Weber will suffer from congestion

OGDEN — By 2040, Davis and southern Weber counties will have 130,000 more people. Many of those people will have cars, and they will drive them.

Even with the future completion of nearly all road-widening projects planned between now and then, congestion will increase, and motorists will spend more time in traffic than they spend now.

For the Utah Department of Transportation, that shows there's a need for a project along the western edge of Davis and Weber counties to alleviate future congestion. It's a project that could move people north and south without sending them east to I-15.

And that's where UDOT wants the public's help.

The state's transportation agency wants to know if people agree there's a need for a project.

UDOT is undertaking an $8 million environmental study of the future transportation corridor between Centerville and Willard and recently released its draft "Purpose and Need" document, which can be viewed and commented on at www.udot.utah.gov/westdavis.

The document states that total lane-miles of congestion during the evening commute will increase from 52 now to 156 by 2040. Currently, all motorists are delayed by 6,840 hours per day in traffic. By 2040, if nothing is done, that delay will increase to 16,390 hours, according to the document.

Other needs for the area, according to the document, include better access to FrontRunner and bus service and continuous bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure both east-west and north-south.

People have been calling the future project for that area "North Legacy" for a long time, but officially, it has no name, no design and no funding, said Randy Jefferies, project manager over the study.

"It's really a comprehensive transportation solution we're looking for," he said Thursday in Ogden.

Jefferies said he wants to create a project that will be accepted by the communities in western Davis and Weber counties because it will be a project in which community members gave their input.

"Without their input, we don't understand what they value," he said. "We want to get it right."

Public comment on this portion of UDOT's Environmental Impact Statement study closes June 7 and can be made online or over the phone by calling 877-298-1991.

"This is the ideal time for people to get involved," Jefferies said.

e-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com

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