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John Hollenhorst ReportingIf you've driven into the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon lately, you may have noticed a huge, highly unusual construction project. Depending on your point of view, it's either a "monstrosity" or a brilliant solution to an engineering challenge.
It looks like a cross between a ride at Lagoon and a giant Olympic bobsled run. It's actually a road under construction, one of the most controversial in Salt Lake County history.
When developer Terry Diehl walks to the back of his property, the view he takes in down below is getting interesting. A huge bridge is under construction to help a new road get up a steep slope. Diehl says it's vastly superior to his original plan for massive retaining walls 120 feet high.
Terry Diehl, Developer: "You'd have seen the scar clear from down in the valley. It would have looked terrible."
The bridge itself rises 30 to 40 feet off the ground on massive support columns, and it makes a 450 foot hairpin turn. It's part of a road snaking its way to a high plateau where Diehl's company plans a subdivision. He admits it looks a bit rough now, under construction.
Terry Diehl: "And I think once the landscaping is in and the architectural effects are put into place, I think it'll be very pleasing."
Gale Dick has a different view.
Gale Dick, Save Our Canyons: "It's pretty ugly. Uh yeah, it's really monstrous I think."
Environmentalists fought the road all the way to the Utah Supreme Court, arguing it violated county law because the slope was too steep.
Gale Dick: "We don't think it should happen because we think that the foothills and the canyons are the jewels of Salt Lake City life."
Diehl's company won the case, proclaiming a victory for property rights.
Terry Diehl: "And I think this raises the bar for anybody else who develops in the hillsides and the canyons, of how to deal with getting away from these large retaining walls that look so bad."
Critics say it will set a bad precedent, and it proves the county hillside ordinance is meaningless.
The road should be complete in September, and then the first of 43 homes will begin construction way up there, out of sight. It's intended to be the most exclusive neighborhood in Salt Lake County.
