The celebrated - and criticized - deal ending legal challenges to Legacy Highway must now run the gauntlet through lawyers, special interest groups and then the Legislature.

Even the most ardent supporters warn that the fight over the proposed Davis County roadway remains intense.

"It is not a done deal," said state Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, who helped negotiate the settlement announced last month. "I think there is probably a little bit of a misperception out there that this is going to be a quick walk in the park and that everybody is whistling Dixie. I just know personally that that is not the case."

Take Wednesday's heated House Republican Caucus as a prime example.

GOP representatives during the closed-door meeting ridiculed the proposed deal between the state and environmentalists. Some, mainly rural legislators, vowed to vote against it.

Clearfield Republican Rep. Paul Ray said the vote would be close if it took place now and despite his own concerns, he plans to support the settlement.

"I hate negotiating with terrorists," Ray said, using a line that has become a favorite of settlement opponents. "But we have to look at it. Is it going to get the road built quicker? I think we're moving in the right direction."

Before lawmakers can vote on the deal early next month, attorneys for the state and those who sued to stop construction in 2001 must agree on the wording of the final settlement. Legislators want 10 days to review the final draft before Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr. calls for a special session in the middle of November.

Killpack called the drafting process tedious, weighed down by input from such politically active groups as the truckers association, which is upset that Legacy under the agreement would deny access to big rigs.

Despite the objections, Marc Heileson from the Sierra Club wants the agreement in principle to remain unchanged.

"We've made our deal and that is what we expect to get," said Heileson, one of the original plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Once the lawyers draft the final agreement, if lawmakers approve, it will be certified by the courts. Construction could start as early as May and would then be slated to finish by 2008.

"My preference is that we wrap this up quick," Killpack said. "I just think that people are ready to move on."

mcanham@sltrib.com

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Tribune reporter Rebecca Walsh contributed to this article.