Comments about ‘Environmental concerns about Utah Lake bridge discussed’

There are times when society needs to look at the common good a project brings to a community over the existance of environmental infringements. In a society where progress, growth and advancements are occuring the need to support all of those enities must become more important than the existnance of a few weeds, plant growth or little fish.

Look at what the EPD did i California when it managed to cut off water to farmers all in the name of saving a little fish that provided not real valye to society. Was the good of Society considered paramount over a little fish. In the name of enviromentalism we hinder the advancements of society and create problems that extend far into the future.

Trafic and congestion in Utah County because of population growth mush take presidence over a minimal impact that the bridge will make on a lake such as Utah Lake.

I live West of the lake and I don't see why this bridge is needed. There are several alternative routes either under construction or planned for the area. Within a year one will not have to drive through downtown Lehi any longer.

Now add a toll to the bridge and I would think that it is doomed. Why pay a toll to take a bridge when there will be a major road just north of the lake that is toll free? The communing time difference will not be that much. Sure a few would use the bridge but I don't think enough people will to pay for it. Then what happens when the developer goes bankrupt?

People choose where they live and where they work. I have a 45 minute commute each day, that's a choice I made. If people want to live in Saratoga Springs or Eagle Mountain and work in Orem/Provo then they have to realize that they will have long commute. A shortened drive should not come at the expense of the environment.

I just don't see why this is an either/or situation, as in, why can't we have good traffic flow without the bridge? If people carpooled, I'll bet the traffic would flow amazingly well. And if people choose not to, well, maybe the traffic really isn't that bad.

So many mistakes have been made in the name of progress. The construction of Geneva Steel during World War II provided steel for the war and jobs for Utah County. But now the mill is gone along with all its jobs, the pollution legacy is what has endured. If population increase is what is driving the need for such a project, then we should focus on reducing the problem and mitigating its impacts. Building the bridge only compounds the problem and perpetuates our addiction to a paradigm that is obsolete.

The Environmental Asthetics and the Tourist and Naturalist aspects of this WONDERFUL WATERSHED should never be so SCARRED with such a man made TRAVESTY. The Native American History and more recent Pioneer and Homesteader heritage should be forever honored by making Utah Lake a Forever Wild and Highly Protected JEWEL and TREASURE for the People and the generations To Come of Utah...Utah County and the Intermountain West. There are more realistic answers and better technological MASS TRANSIT SYSTEMS that would better serve this WONDERFUL LAKE BASIN .... I say defer to TRAX and GO AROUND THE LAKE .... Smell The Daisies and LETS NOT PAVE ANOTHER PARKING LOT .... Please

If Sam Rushforth wants the lake to be returned to the way it was when the pioneers came then maybe we should do that with everything, starting with his house. Let's remove it and make his property look the way it did 160 years ago.

Utah Lake with all of its other issues does not need a bridge. What intellectual decided that the concept even carried any merit.

The discussion should have ended before it started. I would bet the person that instituted the idea probably got his deer!

Good thing people like you were not around 30-40 years ago when the highway was built..

Every envrionmentalist is a hypocrite.

That said I do have to agree that I can not see how this project is financially feasible.

The plan is for the west side to connect 18 miles south of the crossroads. (pelican point) No one is going to drive 12-18 miles south just to pay 3-6 bux to turn around and drive north again... (The only people it would help is people that work between 800 north in orem and main street in american fork.)

And yes I live in SS...

Since it is a proposed toll road, it seems self evident that it is being promoted for hoped for profits of a corporation, with no real need but rather a desire to create profits for some big dogs and a hand full of share holders. Across the country foreign companies, notably Spanish have bought long established publicly built highways and turned them into for profit highways. Building them is another way to get their for profit transit roads and no doubt they will be built with public taxes in the form of tax deferments, bond issues ect. as is always the case when private interests construct large projects.


At its heart this deal reeks of a palm greasing deal between well moneyed private interests and 'public servants' more interested in their own affairs and the continued good graces of aforementioned private interests.

And what about water? Aquifers drained with well pumping could directly affect the water quality of Utah Lake and surface throughout the watershed west of the lake.

They'd be better off spending the money to create incentives for companies to move closer to the people, thus reducing the need to commute in the first place. Win win.

A bridge is a waste of money and an unnecessary impact on the lake; simply improve access on both ends. People know the limitations of where they buld homes.

I hope there will be a public vote on this

To propose to build this bridge before we know how the Pioneer Crossing project will work is ludicrous. This bridge would only benefit the relatively few number of people who need to directly commute between the west shore and the east shore of Utah Lake. It would not benefit those who commute between the west shore and the Salt Lake Valley.

It is a solution looking for a problem.

Private money, private project, private ideas. What is so hard to understand about this concept? There is no need to submit an EIS. That is simply asking for a lawsuit. Utah Lake is not a benefit to anyone or anything aside form a few migratory geese and ducks. If Utah Lake were so vital then it would not have been allowed to fall into the shameful state it has. I find it funny that now all of a sudden there is this cry of support for the lake? What a joke. The environmentalists (let them car pool while I drive my Saab in peace and comfort) should not have a say or a voice as their agenda is clear.

The private sector can work if government and government lovers will get out of the way.

Private money, private project, private ideas? What about public lake? This would be a disaster to the lake and the environment. Put money into restoring the lake and vegetation and there will be more investment, recreation, and use of the lake. A bridge to nowhere? Where is Sarah Palin when you need her...oh wait she tried this idea.

I am so sick and tired of environmentalists making issues of everything. The Earth is here for man, not the other way around. Sure we need to be prudent, but come on, Utah Lake? A Bridge allows water from one side to the other.
As for the "profit" motives, so what? Business helps the economy, or haven't you noticed.
Those that are opposed to corporations as the down fall, please do us all a favor and move to a cave, don't start a fire, don't plant crops, don't do anything because remember it MIGHT hurt the Earth!

First, I really wish all of the folks opposed to environmental considerations could spell and use basic english (Palin, Beck, etc --we celebrate being dumb and circular in our reasoning). I also wish that the 'environmentalist' could speak to the 'conservatives' in some fashion. I know, this is probably a pipe dream. However, as a Mormon and as a conservative I have become increasingly disturbed at the Beck, Palin interpretation of 'conservatism' that seems to celebrate an alternative version of of reality (and history). This is, Utah, after all but come on...someone actually reads don't they???

Uncontrolled business can cost billions. Is it progress to allow the road salt from winter, and the roadbed gas and oil to pollute a very shallow lake that would never recover?

The Saratoga Springs are is bordered on the south by two chemical companies. I would not buy a home there. The Eagle mountain area is bordered on the west by the tailings of Mercur, Okur and Ophir mines. The cyanide and mercury there will limit development to the west. Contrary to the developers ideas, the area is limited in size.

I worry more about irresponsible business than I do the environmentalists. Who is going to loan money on a $600 million project that is shown to lose money for many years, unless the state bonds it?

This bridge should be built. But by the state, like any other road or bridge. Not to make money for some piratical corporation.

Utahns are, above all, cheap. A toll bridge will not pay for itself anyway. It will become a blight on Utah county and will have to be taken over by the state anyway. By then, however, the toll concept will have taken root and politicians will be unable to try and extort money from drivers. So the toll will be reduced a little, but will stay in effect.

That will make western Utah County the ONLY place in the state realistically accessible only by a toll road.

Think about it -- if politicians believe they can get a away with it, they'll introduce tolls on every road in Utah.

The abomination of toll roads should be protested longly and loudly EVERY time it's raised.