Orrin Hatch is running for re-election next year. He knows that many Davis County commuters are frustrated that the Legacy Highway has been held up for four years by an environmental lawsuit. So, from a political standpoint, it was obvious why Utah's senior senator would propose federal legislation that would pre-empt further litigation and pave the way for Legacy construction to resume.

But Sen. Hatch's proposal, strongly backed by Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, was a bad idea at a bad time. Happily, it was kept out of the monster federal transportation bill Thursday night.

The Utah Department of Transportation and the opponents of the original Legacy Highway plan are in negotiations to create a solution that would end the lawsuit. Word of an agreement in principle surfaced last week, though neither side has released details.

Assuming that a negotiated settlement might include good ideas from both UDOT's latest plan and the opponents' plan, called the Citizens' Smart Growth Alternative, it would have been a shame if Hatch's legislation had pre-empted or undercut a superior, hybrid project.

Besides, Congress is mostly out of the loop on the Legacy Highway, which is a state project that requires approval from various federal regulatory agencies. Members of Congress from Maine to California would have no idea what Legacy is about or the many contentious details about alignment, Great Salt Lake wetlands and mass transit, among other issues, that have stalled it.

Presumably, the Hatch proposal would have pre-empted further environmental challenges to UDOT's latest plan, which calls for a four-lane divided highway about 14 miles long between North Salt Lake and Farmington. The highway would be located west of I-15 and would supplement it.

In 2002, the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that halted work on the project because, the court said, environmental planning had not adequately dealt with four issues. UDOT subsequently began a supplemental environmental impact statement that is scheduled to be finished early next year.

The environmentalists have proposed an alternative plan that would expand and extend Redwood Road between North Salt Lake and Farmington.

When Gov. Jon Huntsman's office briefed the Utah Legislature about the negotiations last week, there were rumblings of discontent. Hatch's legislation may have been a negotiating ploy that resulted from that.

But the best route to a solution is negotiation, not pre-emption.