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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Legislative negotiators have reached an out-of-court settlement with environmental groups allowing construction of the 14-mile Legacy Parkway to start next spring.
Key legislators told The Associated Press that a deal was reached today with six environmental groups that stopped construction three years ago.
The full Legislature still must approve some funding required by the settlement. That could come at a special session tentatively set for November 9th.
The 14-mile Legacy Parkway would run from Farmington across Great Salt Lake marshlands to the Interstate 215 beltway near Salt Lake's airport.
It would provide an alternative to traffic-clogged Interstate 15 for Davis County commuters who work in Salt Lake County.
The terms of the deal, according to state representative Stuart Adams of Layton;
- A 55-mile-an-hour speed limit.
- No 18-wheel trucks will be allowed on the parkway.
- Asphalt instead of concrete pavement -- to reduce noise.
- No billboards.
- The state will buy another 125 acres of wetlands for protection, bringing the total to more than 22-hundred acres for a nature preserve. That will add about $10 million to the cost of Legacy.
- The state will pay 2-point-five million dollars for an environmental study of a light-rail or rapid-bus system for southern Davis County.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
