Predictably, Legacy Highway proponents are citing the recent tanker explosion on I-15 as evidence for their cause.
As one of the motorists who was in that traffic jam, I wonder how much difference the Legacy Highway would have made and doubt it would have made much difference.
As planned, the capacity of the Legacy Highway will be less than that of the existing arterial roads in south Davis County. Dump all of I-15's traffic onto Legacy and you won't exactly have free-flowing conditions. The roads leading from I-15 west to Legacy would also present a significant bottleneck to motorists.
Most importantly, when a freeway is suddenly closed, the existence of a parallel freeway a few miles away is of no help to those who cannot even get to an exit ramp. That's what happened to me, for three hours, on the day of the tanker explosion.
Nearly all of my lost time was spent waiting to get off I-15. Although traffic on the streets in Bountiful was heavy, and must have been very frustrating to local residents, at least it moved steadily.
Rather than spending $400 million on a second freeway, why not choose a less expensive way to minimize delays in rare situations like this: close the onramps and post detour signs. There was plenty of time to do both before I mistakenly entered I-15 SEVEN hours after the explosion occurred.
If I had known about the closure in time to avoid the freeway, I would have been home two hours sooner. It was so frustrating to learn the next day that the accident occurred more than seven hours earlier than my delay.
Thank you for providing an acceptable venue for road rage.
Deb Badger
Ogden