page_title: Legacy Parkway
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Legacy Parkway / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking south on Legacy Parkway from 500 South in Bountiful.
context_page_description: Legacy Parkway is an 11.5-mile-long four-lane controlled-access parkway located almost completely within Davis County in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah. The parkway travels north from Interstate 215 in northwestern Salt Lake City to an interchange named the Wasatch Weave in Farmington with two intermediate interchanges providing access to Woods Cross and Centerville. Wetlands of the nearby Great Salt Lake and nature preserves border the western side of the parkway while the eastern side roughly parallels Union Pacific and Utah Transit Authority rail lines and I-15. On average, between 20,000 and 23,000 vehicles use the parkway daily.
  Construction began in 2006 and was completed in 2008, with the parkway opening in September of the same year. The parkway was controversial in its construction and was challenged in court several times before a compromise was met between the state and the Sierra Club, which limited the speed on the road and banned semi-trucks on the highway except in emergencies. In addition to the restrictions on speed and trucks, the road was reduced from a six-lane expressway to a four-lane parkway.
context_section_description: Legacy Parkway is part of the larger Legacy Highway project first proposed by then-governor Mike Leavitt, which ultimately will run north from Nephi toward Brigham City. The concept of a western Davis County highway has existed since the 1960s, with some proposals routing the highway over Antelope Island or across Farmington Bay. Legacy Parkway was to extend to the west side of the Salt Lake City International Airport and connect to I-80 at 5600 West; however, that plan was abandoned in October 1997. A survey taken by Valley Research for The Salt Lake Tribune in December 1997 showed 64 percent of Davis County residents were in support of building the parkway, with just 19 percent opposing the construction. State officials had hoped to have the parkway open in time for the 2002 Winter Olympics being held in Salt Lake City; however, construction was delayed too many times for that to occur.
  Initial construction of Legacy Parkway began in 2001; however, it was forced to stop as a result of lawsuits over the completeness of the environmental impact statement (EIS). A federal appeals court ruled that the EIS was "inadequate" and "...arbitrary and capricious" as it did not study other alternate routes that were less harmful to wetlands that the parkway was originally to be routed through. A supplemental EIS (SEIS), which changed the routing of the highway as well as increased the amount of land to be part of the Legacy Nature Preserve, was completed in January 2005. The SEIS also added in the trail system that now parallels the parkway. On September 21, 2005, the State of Utah and the Sierra Club (acting on behalf of numerous groups opposing the overall Legacy Highway project) officially signed a compromise regarding Legacy Parkway. Some of the agreements reached include no billboards along the route, no semi-trailer trucks allowed on the parkway (except in cases where they are used in response to an accident or there is construction on I-15), and a 55-mile-per-hour (90 km/h) speed limit. The speed limit on the parallel I-15 is 70 mph (110 km/h); however speeds in the leftmost lane can reach upwards of 80 mph (130 km/h). Original plans for the highway had included a six-lane expressway, compared to the four-lane controlled-access parkway that was built.
  Construction of the parkway resumed in March 2006, with limited construction activity followed by heavy construction on the road beginning December 2006. The parkway earned the Federal Highway Administration's Environmental Excellence Award in 2007. The highway was opened by then-governor Jon Huntsman, Jr., John Njord of UDOT and Stuart Adams of the Utah Transportation Commission on September 13, 2008 around 4:40 PM. The total cost of the parkway was $685 million (equivalent to $802 million in 2018). The original budget for the parkway was $451 million (equivalent to $528 million in 2018). A 5K and 10K run (3.1 and 6.2 mi) and a 20 mi (32 km) bike race were held the morning of the opening of the highway along the main roadway to support cancer research. The route was designated a Utah Scenic Byway (as the Great Salt Lake Legacy Parkway Scenic Byway) on May 16, 2002, six years prior to its opening. Should the parkway be extended further north, significant work will have to be done to reroute the parkway or move the Farmington FrontRunner station and shopping complex which was built just north of the parkway.
caption: Looking southbound from the 500 South interchange
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