East-West Connector route is sounding good to Lehi
UDOT is planning to build an East-West Connector route from the Main Street I-15 interchange in American Fork to Redwood Road in Saratoga Springs and, so far, Lehi approves of the plans.
The five-to-seven-lane, limited-access road will most likely follow a route along 1000 South in Lehi that the city has been preserving for years, although a specific path has not yet been identified.
The connector, which will be designed to alleviate traffic along state Route 73 — Lehi Main Street — is included in the city's own transportation plans.
"This is one of the few roads that got in there ahead of the residents and they blocked out the right of way for it so the residents knew about it when they came in," said Lehi Mayor Howard Johnson. "This is something that Lehi wants to see done."
Details on the road will be discussed at a UDOT-sponsored open house today at Snow Springs Elementary School in Lehi, but the road has already generated a lot of interest, Johnson said. The mayor said he has already received letters from residents who want to see the road "done tomorrow."
The project should be finished no later than 2011, Adams said, which is sooner than the controversial Mountain View Corridor will be completed. However, an alignment for the road has not yet been chosen.
Factors such as existing developments and wetlands surrounding Utah Lake and the Jordan River will be considered in developing an alignment, Adams said.
"We'll be looking at multiple options of where that alignment could go," Adams said. "We'll look at what alternatives will relieve the most traffic and have the least impact to wetlands in the area."
Adams said the environmental study for the road will also consider mass transit options and the possibility of connecting commuter rail to the Saratoga Springs area.
The possibility of including mass transportation options in the connector project is good news to Dave Klock, a developer and founder of Citizens Organized for Smarter Transportation. The COST organization is heavily involved in protesting UDOT's preferred option of connecting the Mountain View Corridor to I-15 via 2100 North in Lehi.
Klock said COST agrees with UDOT's plans to start the road at the Main Street exit in American Fork, but the group is not supportive of building the road anywhere else.
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