This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The only thing worse than seeing a lot more cars moving rapidly though Davis and Weber counties would be to see a lot more cars moving slowly through the same area.

That's why the Utah Department of Transportation seems keen to build the new West Davis Corridor Freeway — basically an expansion of the Legacy Parkway — so that the thousands of trucks and autos expected to follow population growth can zip through quickly, avoiding gridlock and the excess air pollution all that slow-and-go traffic would create.

What the planners at UDOT haven't fully appreciated, apparently, is that building more highways just encourages more people to drive more cars — often holding a single person — clogging up all the highways the taxpayers can build.

And that's if the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and others concerned with the local wetlands get out of the way and allow the project despite the damage it will do.

It's too bad, then, that UDOT wasn't more impressed with an alterative known as the Shared Solution. That's an approach put forward by someone other than the department or the highway building lobby.

A group called Utahns for Better Transportation suggested that multi-faceted alternative to the $600 million highway. It would rely less on the concept of fast-moving freeway traffic and more on a combination of better land-use planning, wide and inviting boulevards and more and better public transit options.

UDOT, to its credit, did stop the process for some two years while it pondered the Shared Solution option. Officials said they liked some of the smaller ideas, such as noise-reduction technologies and more environmentally friendly lighting and landscaping. They also said more overpasses allowing east-west traffic to fly over, in spots where there would be no interchanges, would help.

In the end, though, UDOT said the Shared Solution didn't meet the most important criteria for highway planning: The need for speed.

Until that highway gets just as clogged as I-15 ever did.

Better would be more aggressive action by affected communities, some of which oppose the freeway, to zone for mixed-use, no-commuting developments. And for the Utah Transit Authority to shake off its reputation as an over-priced, under-performing system so that UDOT, and the rest of us, would have faith that we could take the bus to work instead of everyone having to live in a three-car household.

When the feds finally kill the latest freeway plan, having a well-developed, workable alternative such as the Shared Solution in our back pocket will help everyone a lot.