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Utah
No Certain Future for Utah's Legacy Parkway as Both Highway and Alternative Route Proponents See Value to Opposing Plans
The end of a three-month period of public input on the new draft of an environmental impact study for the 14-mile Legacy Parkway, blocked by a federal appeals court in November 2001, finds litigants firm on their different solutions for gridlocked Davis County north of Salt Lake City, with Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) Executive Director John Njord buoyed by the U.S. EPA's latest grade ''B plus'' for the highway project, and the Sierra Club and Utahns for Better Transportation representatives equally confident in their just-unveiled transit-focused ''Citizens' Smart Growth Alternative.''
EPA experts went through the new study ''with a fine-tooth comb'' and recognized ''substantial improvements,'' said Director Njord at UDOT's press conference. ''The folks who have opposed this project and are a small minority, have had their day,'' he added. ''It's time to move on.''
But both he and project manager John Thomas understand, report Desert Morning News and Salt Lake Tribune writers Nicole Warburton and Matt Canham, that moving on may not be easy. UDOT must address the Citizens' Smart Growth Alternative in its final environmental study this fall, and if unchallenged, could restart construction early next year. But another round of litigation could last till 2007 or 2008, with the outcome far from certain.
Opponents are ''in control of what happens from here on out,'' manager Thomas admitted. ''It is their choice to find a way to move forward or stall the project, which they can easily do.''
And they, during a separate press conference, gave several reasons for confidence in their alternative. Sierra Club regional representative Marc Heileson called UDOT officials ''very, very vulnerable,'' pointing out that they hadn't fully answered EPA why other-than-road options were rejected four years ago.
''They did well on attendance and citizenship,'' or public involvement in the new study process, he added, ''but when it came to the real grade, they did poorly.''
The Smart Growth alternative, he and others said, allows local road extension and improvement; speeds up expansion of light rail and bus rapid transit; alleviates rush-hour traffic by the use of reversible lanes; minimizes the harm to wetlands; and costs hundreds of millions less than Legacy.
''Over the past several month, with the help of UDOT and its consultants, the travel modes we've run on our alternative,'' said University of Utah environmental law professor Bob Adler, ''show the Citizens' Smart Growth Alternative meets the travel needs in the corridor fully.''
And since the federal Clean Water Act requires jurisdictions to select the least damaging option to meet a project's ''purpose and need,'' he stressed, UDOT must accept the Smart Growth alternative, because it eases congestion, while reducing wetland damage from more than 100 to about 30 acres. -- Desert Morning News, Salt Lake Tribune
3/22/2005
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