The funding is now in place for the first leg of Eagle Mountain's Pony Express Parkway.
Utah County and Mountainland Association of Governments, the regional planning agency, agreed to use $3.5 million to extend the road from Eagle Mountain to Redwood Road in Saratoga Springs, giving residents a second way to access the city. Eventually, the parkway will extend to Lehi and Interstate 15.
"This is a need we have felt, and we finally have the capacity to do it," said Darrell Cook, MAG's executive director.
Eagle Mountain Mayor Heather Jackson said Saratoga Springs and the Alpine School District are paying for part of the road from Redwood Road to Saratoga Junior High. The $3.5 million will help with the last mile to Eagle Mountain.
The money is coming from the quarter-cent sales tax the county collects for transportation projects.
Jackson said getting the road is something she has advocated for years, starting from when she became a city councilwoman.
There now is only one main road entering Eagle Mountain -- State Route 73. When a winter storm struck northern Utah County, many Eagle Mountain residents were unable to get home because the road was closed.
Current road construction work at the intersection of SR 73 and Redwood Road has also resulted in rush-hour traffic jams that turn the 15-minute drive from Lehi to Eagle Mountain into an hour's crawl.
The money will be used to purchase the few remaining parcels needed for the right of way and the construction, which is slated to begin next spring.
Cook said work will start next month on a study of how to link the road to I-15.
But Jackson said just connecting to Redwood Road should make it easier to get in and out of the city.
