UDOT moves forward on Mountain View Corridor

With permission from the Legislature to bond for $500 million when ground is broken for the Mountain View Corridor in western Salt Lake County, the Utah Department of Transportation is preparing to ensure construction starts next year.

Currently, UDOT is purchasing land for the road, which will run between Redwood Road north of Camp Williams to I-80, roughly between 5000 West and 5800 West. Most of the land is private and not occupied.

"We may have one or two buildings we may need to take out," said Teri Newell, a UDOT engineer who is project manager over Mountain View Corridor. UDOT is purchasing the land and will hire a road designer with $230 million it received two years ago.

UDOT will likely issue the bonds in phases. The Legislature approved bonding for the Mountain View Corridor in the last hours of the session that ended March 16.

"We haven't figured out all of our cash flow yet," Newell said. "And they'll bond based on when we would need to use the money. We don't expect to be in construction until 2010."

The $500 million will only pay for the first 10 miles of the 35-mile-long road.

Those first 10 miles will be on the south portion of the road. UDOT will build a road similar to Bangerter Highway, with two lanes in each direction and stop-lighted intersections every mile to 1.5 miles.

Those stop-lighted intersections will someday become interchanges, and speeds on the highway will increase as Mountain View Corridor becomes a freeway, Newell said. A freeway has more vehicle capacity than a highway.

E-MAIL: lhancock@desnews.com