Centerville and Farmington are pushing the proposal for the bypass road. Officials there want to widen Sheep Road, a narrow, unpaved, rutted north-south road that residents already use to get around I-15 congestion.
But Utah Department of Transportation officials say they doubt the cities could get a permit to enhance Sheep Road because it would encroach on protected wetlands. Nevertheless, regional planners say the bypass is needed, and have advised the cities and county to find ways to preserve land for the road.
The proposed route on the Wasatch Front Regional Council's long-range planning map represents not a firm alignment, but a place-holder for the bypass, council spokesman Sam Klemm said Friday.
The bypass would reduce congestion and increase safety and convenience, he said.
"You have a whole lot of people living in that Roy, Syracuse area who right now are going east on very congested arterials . . . to come south on I-15," Klemm said. "If they could come straight south instead, that would make a whole lot of sense."
UDOT is now working on a study of three possible bypass road routes: along the DR&G railroad line, an alignment just west of I-15 and a possibility west of Farmington, said UDOT spokesman Nile Easton.
The $100,000 study will be done in about three months, but would be advisory only, because the cities would be responsible for getting the necessary permits and paying for any road construction, Easton said.
"The cities are saying they want a bypass," Easton said. "We're saying we'll look at it."
The cities' quest to widen Sheep Road won't likely succeed, he added.
Outraged conservationists are working to make the same point, arguing any bypass currently proposed would cut through Great Salt Lake wetlands, a nature preserve and a part of the lake shore that was completely under water during the flood of 1983.
Utah Sierra Club spokesman Marc Heileson on Friday met with representatives of the Audubon Society, Friends of Great Salt Lake and UDOT. Everyone, he said, agreed a bypass road in the mapped area was a bad idea.
The only way to widen Sheep Road to the east would be to impinge on the rail right-of-way, which is already under construction to be part of the Legacy Preserve's trail system. To the west of Sheep Road is a protected nesting area for several species of birds.
"This is the wettest of the wet zones," Heileson said. "As long as there is a Clean Water Act, this road cannot be built."
The regional council's long-range plan, including the map with proposed bypass, is expected to receive final approval next week. The plan lays out road and transit projects and air quality needs through 2030, and is updated every four years.
Klemm said the county should find funds for the bypass corridor as soon as possible, even though construction on northern section of Legacy Highway won't begin before 2016, if then, because no funds have been secured for construction and required environmental studies.
