SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - It’s been in the works for years, but there’s a new change to the proposed West Davis Corridor project.
The $600 million, 24-mile-long, highway will run from Centerville in Davis County to Slaterville in Weber County. It’s designed to cut down traffic on Interstate 15, but it’s not without consequences. The Utah Department of Transportation has developed a new plan that would lower the number of homes affected by approximately 70 to about 50 homes. It would also reduce the amount of wetland impacted from about 140 acres to 50 acres.
Nicole Miller moved into her Kaysville neighborhood about a year ago. One of the things she looked at before buying was how close she would be to the new West Davis corridor.
“I think there are two options here, one that's really close to these backyards and one that's further west,” said miller. “And of course everyone around here hopes they chose the further west corridor."
When it's a choice between saving wetlands and saving people's homes the mayor of Kaysville says the choice is clear.
Steve Hiatt said, "We've been very outspoken, both myself and members of neighborhood, to say you know we want to make sure the homes are protected. We think that wetlands are important, but what's the trade off there? If we have 3 acres more wetlands is it worth taking out ten homes?"
It's the same question UDOT has to consider for all the cities along the projected routes.
UDOT Spokesperson Vic Saunders said, "This has been a long process it still has some to go. We hope people will be patient with us we're trying to do the best we can to get the best science and the best study we can to make the right decisions."
UDOT expects a draft environmental impact study to be released next spring. A final decision isn’t expected to 2014 at the earliest.
