| Description |
In 1847 mobs drove the Mormons from Ohio. The Mormons headed west to find a place to build Zion - their ideal community. They blazed a path deep into the Frontier, marking their trail with gravestones. The long journey ended in the Salt Lake Valley when Brigham Young, their leader, declared "This is the right place." Within days Young and several advisors climbed Ensign Peak to survey the arid valley. They developed a vision of their new home: a city built in clusters separated by open space with wide streets laid in a grid. Today air pollution and residential development ironically compromise the view from Ensign Peak. The state has abandoned its forefathers' vision. Urban sprawl runs rampant, leaving stucco houses and strip malls in its path. Utah loses 100,000 acres of open space annually. Our unguided growth has caused many problems. Extensive building on mountain foothills has severely decreased numerous animal populations. Development in riparian areas has caused watershed deterioration. Uncontrolled growth has increased traffic congestion and consequently air and water pollution. This paper uses the proposed construction of the Legacy Highway to illustrate the costs of such growth accompanied with no regional vision. I set the stage by giving some attention to the geographic, cultural, and economic limitations that policy makers face in trying to solve Davis County's transportation problems. Many interest groups have mobilized to try to influence the shape of the proposed highway or even to stop Utah from building the Legacy Highway at all; the groups I discuss in this paper include the Governor's Office, the Federal Highway Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers, the State's Division of Fish and Wildlife Services, an Environmental Coalition, and the Utah Department of Transportation. These actors' interests and behaviors are detailed. In addition, attention is given to the legal conditions that set the boundaries of the debate. I conclude that the Legacy Highway is controversial because there is no easy way to appease the competing interests. Part of the problem is due to diverse interests of the groups trying to influence the project. Another part of the problem is due to Utah's general policy about growth. Finally, I speculate that the conflict that has characterized the discussion of the Legacy Highway may be a foreshadowing of things to come so long as Utah ignores the need of regional planning. |
