Denice Bench raises her 3-year old son, Clark, in a home just a couple hundred feet from the proposed 400- to 600-foot-wide connector freeway. Lehi fears the connector would annihilate an existing LDS Church and the Lehi Branch Library, where children were gathered Wednesday morning for book readings and games. UDOT says the buildings would not be affected.

Bench is concerned for the health and safety of her family - especially her growing boy.

"When we moved in, we did not know this freeway was going to be here," Bench said with her son in hand. "I didn't vote UDOT to be my government, so I don't know why they have the opportunity to say what's going to happen when the voice of the people don't want it."

She was just one of several residents, business owners and officials who turned out Wednesday to step up the rhetoric against the Utah Department of Transportation's draft environmental impact study, which also was released Wednesday.

That connector road - wherever it might go - should move traffic off of Lehi's gridlocked Main Street and, in tandem with smaller east-west roads, carry traffic in and out of booming Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs.

The city wants a bridge to connect the freeways at 4800 North - farther away from homes and businesses. UDOT's preferred alternative calls for the connector to run along 2100 North, through the middle of the city.

Through the brisk morning air Wednesday, Dave Klock and Citizens Organized for Smarter Transportation (COST) rallied residents along the 2100 North route, calling on the public to express their concerns to transportation officials. Klock called UDOT's preferred alignment a "flawed plan," compared to Lehi's cheaper, healthier and environmentally friendly northern route.

"Our plan is better in virtually every area," Klock said. "We have put our own money, our own time and our own efforts where our mouth is. UDOT is failing in its responsibility to consider all reasonable alternatives."

Lehi Mayor Howard Johnson said the city is not making a "not in our backyard" argument. Rather, he said the shorter 4800 North connection would save commuters $1 billion in travel costs over 30 years as well as 80 to 100 million gallons of fuel.

Sierra Club representative Marc Heileson praised Lehi's proposal because, unlike UDOT's plans, it incorporates public transit. More freeways, he said, won't ultimately solve the traffic problem - instead they would further low-density sprawl, increase traffic and pollute the air.

UDOT project manager Teri Newell said officials are reviewing Lehi's proposal with the Federal Highway Administration. It simply came in too late to be included in the draft Environmental Impact Study (EIS). If they deem the route a reasonable alternative, they will supplement the study to include it.

"We haven't finished our review, but . . . we feel like [4800 North] may be a little too far north to handle some east-west issues for Lehi, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain," she said. "We need to look at that more, and we have some concerns with the cost."

UDOT has said a 4800 North connector would require a massive, pricey bridge. But Lehi is preparing a bridge study and expects that will prove the 4800 North alternative to be much cheaper - about two-thirds of UDOT's cost.

Despite the issues in Lehi, Newell said several other cities are ready to move forward on the regional corridor. She added that 2100 North is simply the preferred alternative because "it had the fewest impacts and seems a reasonable option."

sgehrke@sltrib.com