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In plans taking shape for the next 30 years for Wasatch Front transportation, some major highways would be converted into freeways and many more dedicated lanes for buses would be built; also, a new focus is emerging on improving existing roads instead of building new ones.

Among specific proposals are converting into full-blown freeways such highways as Bangerter Highway in western Salt Lake County, U.S. 89 in Davis County and, eventually, the planned Mountain View Corridor Highway in western Salt Lake Valley.

This vision is included in a list of $35 billion worth of highway and mass transit projects proposed through 2040 that the Regional Growth Committee of the Wasatch Front Regional Council endorsed on Thursday.

The full council also is expected to endorse the once-every-four years planning document next week. Then the council will work to prioritize the order in which the projects should be built — and which should be dropped for probable lack of funding — for final approval next spring.

"It's a big deal because any project to add new capacity cannot receive federal funding unless it is on that list first," said Sam Klemm, public information officer for the council.

Ned Hacker, on the council staff, who has helped develop and negotiate the list among local governments, said the Wasatch Front is filling up with development. Not much room remains for new highways, so the focus is shifting to how to make existing ones more efficient.

"That means things like improving intersections, coordinating traffic signals and adding [continuous-flow] left-turn lanes," he said. "It may allow, for example, two lanes to carry as much traffic as adding another lane would. It also has financial implications," potentially saving money.

Some of the changes will require political will as well as cash.

For example, plans to turn Bangerter Highway into a freeway, with current ground-level intersections replaced with bridges and interchanges, already is causing some heartburn among West Valley City officials. They worry about traffic and construction impacts on cross streets.

In comments sent to the regional council, West Valley City officials have said they might prefer keeping special "continuous-flow intersections" that have been built there recently or are planned. Klemm said the regional council and West Valley City are planning meetings to discuss the proposals and worries.

U.S. 89 in Davis County also is favored to become more like a full freeway, with proposals to install freeway interchanges at Antelope Drive, Gordon Avenue, Oakhills Drive and 400 North in Fruit Heights.

Like Bangerter and U.S. 89, the Mountain View Corridor is proposed to begin as a highway and later be converted into a freeway. Construction recently began on that highway, which eventually will stretch from I-80 in Salt Lake City to northern Utah County, running at about 5800 West for much of its alignment.

Klemm said building Mountain View as a highway initially will be cheaper and provide needed capacity on the growing west side. Later, as more money becomes available, bridges can be added to build freeway interchanges, and eventually the entire length would be a freeway.

Another major change in planning is for many more bus rapid-transit lines. One now exists on 35th South in West Valley City, where dedicated lanes for buses in some stretches help speed them along.

"It's designed to replicate rail lines," sort of a TRAX on rubber wheels, Hacker said.

Plans call for such dedicated-lane routes in Salt Lake County on Wasatch Drive, 1300 East, 700 East, State Street, Redwood Road, Bangerter Highway, 5600 West, 5400 South, and 3900 South, among others.

Plans also envision such dedicated-lane bus routes between Salt Lake City and Ogden, with stops through Davis and Weber counties.

Plans also call for expanded streetcar lines in Ogden and in Salt Lake City, which this week was awarded $26 million in federal funding for a new streetcar line to Sugar House. Long-range plans call for extending that from Sugar House to Westminster College.

Separately, council members envision a streetcar line between Ogden's intermodal center and Weber State University.

Hacker said plans also include a yet-to-be determined form of fast transit up Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons. He said either a rail line to ski resorts or a some sort of dedicated-lane system for buses is being discussed.

Also, plans include seeking a connection to tie the end of the current Legacy Parkway in Davis County to the planned West Davis highway and S.R. 67 extensions that would go north in western Davis and Weber counties. —

Go online

O The draft list of envisioned highway and major mass-transit projects is available online at sltrib.com.