Sore losers and Legacy

Deseret Morning News editorial
Published: Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005 8:33 p.m. MDT
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Aesop's "dog in the manger" was not a generous beast. He couldn't eat the hay, but he insisted on making life tough for the cows that wanted to. He was like the spoilsports in the Utah Legislature who are hinting about scuttling the Legacy Parkway deal because business can't practice business as usual on the roadway.

Our advice?

A deal has been struck. It's not great, but it beats disaster and deadlock.

Live with it.

If the Legacy agreement is allowed to buckle because billboards are prohibited on the 14-mile stretch, senators will have some explaining to do. The same goes for anyone who undermines the process because it keeps trucks at bay. Billboards are important to a vital and vigorous economy. But they don't have to be ubiquitous. And by allowing only cars to cruise on Legacy, I-15 should be less crowded for heavier vehicles. As for delivery trucks being forced to use side streets, so be it.

This editorial page is staunchly pro-business — always has been, likely always will be. But after years of listening to lawmakers carp about the way environmentalists were costing the state millions of dollars in delays, seeing politicians bridle at the agreement and hint at shoving it aside smacks of bad faith.

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Nobody is completely happy with the Parkway plan. But people are even less happy with deadlocks and standoffs. Finally, after what seems like a lifetime of fiascoes, someone was able to push something through to help free up commuters streaming down from the north. When the current agreement was struck, both sides said they were moved by arguments that the safety of Utah's biggest city demanded there be more than one artery leading in and out of town to the north. And, indeed, militants out to create mischief could completely immobilize any movement north simply by overturning a truck on I-15.

Convenience is an important issue.

Commerce is vital.

But security should be utmost in everyone's mind. Environmentalists, swayed by the notion of security, were willing to bend. Do Utah senators, bent on getting their way in the marketplace, really want to shoulder the burden of putting the metropolis of Salt Lake City at risk?

Not if they're wise.

It's time for the Legacy Parkway to be built. As an anthem from the 1960s had it, "The old road is rapidly aging. Get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand."

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