We exceeded the new ozone standard many times this past summer and expect to exceed the new PM2.5 standard in the winter. The amount and type of growth in Davis County will be the same whether or not you build the highway. A myth that permeates the entire EIS is the idea that the Legacy Highway will have no impact on the amount, type and location of future growth in Davis County. The unsupported assumption allows UDOT to argue that the most significant damage to the ecosystem of the Great Salt Lake and its adjacent wetlands will be the same whether or not the new road is built. The effect of major new roadways on future growth and development, however, has been documented all around the country.
New highways stimulate development by making an area more accessible.
If the road is built, there will be more intensive development all along the road corridor, and north of the first highway segment as well. This will result in more loss of wetlands, open space and habitat, and in the long run, more cars and more air pollution as well. It is acceptable to build a major new highway in the floodplain of the Great Salt Lake. There would be eight miles of the Locally Preferred Alternative built in the floodplain and almost 1,000 acres of the floodplain would be filled by Alternative C or will be isolated to the east of the roadway. Building so far out in the floodplain rips apart the Great Salt Lake ecosystem including the mosaic of wetlands and uplands throughout the area.