Uresk claims that the Sierra Club and Utahns for Better Transportation (UBET) are making a "last-ditch effort to stop the Legacy Parkway." On the contrary, this has been a long-term effort. No one should be surprised.
Many local citizens have been promoting a more environmentally benign and cost-effective approach for years. In fact, on Sept. 10, 2003, Marc Heileson of the Sierra Club outlined the Redwood Road option at a meeting of the Community Planning and Information Committee held in Davis County and requested that the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) give it full consideration.
Uresk fails to mention that he was at this meeting and has thus known about the Redwood Road proposal for nearly 1 1/2 years.
The real surprise occurred in 1996 when Gov. Mike Leavitt walked onto a farm field in western Weber County to tell the media about his grand scheme for a new 125-mile Legacy freeway running west of I-15. People were floored; developers were thrilled; politicians saw opportunity; UDOT followed orders. No one talked about cost. No one talked about alternatives.
Our current dilemma is a result of Leavitt's 1996 attempt to dictate the answer, rather than asking local citizens and officials to consider all alternatives. The Sierra Club and UBET have been working hard ever since then to develop a better choice than simply throwing buckets of money at a wetlands-destroying, sprawl-inducing freeway.
Uresk states that the Citizen's Smart Growth Alternative "was developed by an out-of-state consultant." Not true. The idea of using Redwood Road as a way of handling traffic demand and emergency access in southern Davis County was purely homegrown.
We freely admit, however, that we are now using some of the most respected transportation consultants in the country to further refine and evaluate the Redwood Road option. In a similar fashion, UDOT uses out-of-state talent to promote Legacy.
The Citizen's Smart Growth Alternative (SGA) has not, as Uresk claims, been "cobbled together." Unlike Leavitt's dictum, no one handed the SGA to us on a plate. It has been developed through a careful, deliberative process.
Furthermore, the agencies have repeatedly told Sierra Club and UBET personnel that the time to present their case would be during the comment period for the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Legacy Highway proposal. That time is now.
UDOT is currently estimating the cost of the first segment of Legacy at $688 million. The Redwood Road option could save Utah taxpayers hundreds of millions.
History has shown that new freeways create more problems than solutions. I invite the governor, our legislators, UDOT personnel, local officials (including Gary Uresk), and all concerned taxpayers to work with the Sierra Club and our UBET partners to develop better, less-costly choices than the Legacy Highway to handle Wasatch Front transportation needs.
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Al Herring is a Davis County resident and chairs the Sierra Club's Utah Chapter.
