This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Thanks to money saved from low bids on other road projects, the Utah Transportation Commission on Friday approved spending up to $30 million to buy the final 100 or so homes in West Valley City that are in the path of the new Mountain View corridor.

The Utah Department of Transportation also announced that part of that new west-side highway — a section between 14000 South and 12600 South — will open months earlier than planned, on June 2, to help relieve congestion in Herriman and Riverton.

At the same time, commissioners approved expanding the scope of the Mountain View Corridor project a bit, to allow it to remove an old, narrow railroad bridge near Magna where accidents are common, on State Road 111 about 4300 South.

The new Mountain View Corridor, featuring a highway and room for a future freeway and transit line, will run north and south at about 5800 West. A first phase between 16000 South and 5400 South — consisting of future frontage roads for a freeway — is scheduled to be completed late this year. The corridor eventually will stretch northward to I-80.

Teri Newell, Mountain View project director, said most of the final homes to be purchased to make way for the highway are between 4700 South and 3500 South. She said corridor preservation funds had already been used to buy about 100 homes there from people facing financial difficulties because of the road plans.

"As we own somewhere between a quarter and half of the homes in the neighborhood, there's no question we change the character of that neighborhood," she told the commission.

Residents living in the path of the highway, she said, "have had their lives basically on hold for 10 years now" waiting for UDOT to eventually buy their homes. Newell said $14 million saved from lower-than-expected bids on other projects combined with other funds allow UDOT to finally buy all the houses — an action approved by the commission.

Newell said although UDOT had earlier planned to open all of the first phase between 16000 South and 5400 South at one time, cities asked for an early opening of the section between 14000 South and 12600 South to help relieve congestion in that area. She said an opening ceremony is being planned for June 2.

Because the project had led to relocation of a Kennecott railroad line, Newell said that means a problematic railroad bridge on S.R. 111 is no longer used. The commission approved using money from the sale of a portion of a maintenance yard to remove the bridge and widen the road.

Newell said the bridge allows only two lanes beneath it now — but the road has four lanes on both sides of it. "We have an incident there at least once a month," she said.