Regarding Tom Farkas’ question concerning UDOT: "Must we sue for truth?” Unfortunately, yes.
Does UDOT adhere to the requirements of the law? Only if it does not interfere with its plans. We along the Highway 89 corridor have been experiencing UDOT’s operating methods for about a year.
UDOT narrowed the study area for the Highway 89 project to just short of the I-15 interchange on the south and just short of the I-84 interchange on the north, as if there is no intent of connecting the six-lane freeway to any other interstate. The result has been to disenfranchise residents from the protections of federal law.
Relief or support from your representatives or the governor; we haven’t much either. Sen. J. Stuart Adams and Rep. Stewart Barlow did meet with us, but it was mostly entertainment value. Nothing changed. The city officials along the corridor are also of no use. They do not want to rock the boat, as they aspire to become the next senators and representatives.
Do not expect much out of the media, either. The media’s role has devolved to only reporting conflict with no independent analysis of the substance of the conflict.
Only the courts remain. Expect, however, to be painted as a group of malcontents who are just increasing the cost of the project even though the cost-effective approach of working with impacted residents is consistently ignored by UDOT.
Yep, this is what Utah Exceptionalism looks like.
Keith Larsen, Kaysville