The Legacy Highway approach - characterized by attempted shortcuts, legal wrangling, public attacks and political dealing - stands in stark contrast to the experience in planning the much larger Mountain View Corridor (MVC), the proposed transportation corridor through western Salt Lake County and northern Utah County.

There are important lessons to be learned from these divergent approaches.

In 2002, the Utah Department of Transportation, Mountainland Association of Governments, Wasatch Front Regional Council, and Utah Transit Authority invited Envision Utah to facilitate development of a plan for the proposed MVC. What followed made Utah a national leader in transportation planning.

Together, we conducted a public visioning process concurrently with the federally-mandated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process, saving both time and money. The MVC also set a national precedent by combining the planning for a major transportation corridor and local land-use planning across jurisdictional boundar- ies.

Typically, roads are planned and built and land use decisions follow by default. The MVC process reversed the trend, deciding upon a desired land-use pattern first and then planning roads to serve those uses efficiently. Sixteen cities, two counties, major landowners and other stakeholders worked together to plan how roadways, mass transit and intelligent land development strategies might be knit together throughout a corridor to help solve transportation problems and bring vitality to adjoining communities.

Envision Utah involved the public actively in a visioning exercise that allowed them to make informed choices about how their communities will grow. Hundreds of citizens and elected officials from the cities near the corridor and dozens of stakeholder groups attended the project's six community workshops in 2003. They expressed their preferences for transportation modes, city centers and housing.

Drawing on their input, Envision Utah crafted three distinct scenarios of how the corridor could develop, and then employed powerful, objective analytical tools to test the ability of each scenario to address acknowledged mobility, environmental, economic and other challenges. From the lessons learned and the give-and-take of open discussion, a land-use vision for this area emerged that culminated in the Mountain View voluntary agreement.

This agreement includes a vision map that suggests how the public's transportation preferences could be incorporated in the MVC. In addition, the agreement outlines principles the participants believe are central to this corridor's future, including:

Providing a safe, balanced transportation system of both roads and transit;

Protecting the environ- ment;

Implementing pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use centers and corridors; and

Providing a variety of housing choices to meet anticipated market demand.

The agreement's central theme is that the jurisdictions and stakeholders are more likely to achieve their mutual goals working as a coordinated team.

Representatives from the municipalities along the corridor, as well as 12 additional public and private stakeholders, signed the voluntary agreement last year, demonstrating their willingness to work within their jurisdictions toward the vision and principles.

Several of the plaintiffs in the Legacy Highway lawsuit, including the Sierra Club, Future Moves Coalition and Mayor Rocky Anderson's office, signed the agreement. Why did these groups agree to the concepts in the MVC vision while they fought Legacy aggressively? There may be several likely reasons. One is that a fair and open process, involving a broad range of voices, is essential.

It's too early to claim full success. The EIS is not yet complete and the road to MVC construction may still have some potholes. Nevertheless, by starting with stakeholders around the planning table and seeking common solutions to recognized transportation problems, the Mountain View Corridor process holds promise to save millions of dollars in transportation funds, reduce the chances of legal challenges, and leave important relationships intact.

Through open lines of communication and careful forethought, the ultimate ride will be a lot less bumpy.

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Alan Matheson Jr. is executive director of the Coalition for Utah's Future, sponsor of Envision Utah.