Some of you may or may not know that my house has now been put into the path of the Mountainview corridor.Utah government in its infinitesimal wisdom of how to do things poorly or against the wishes of the public has decided to remove all logic and put a freeway through my house. In all honesty I don’t really care other than I think its bad placement and not just because it will demolish my house.Utah has a transportation problem and its mostly due to a complete lack of planning and cooperation between cities.

The Mountainview corridor is supposed to relieve some congestion on the I-15 and allow Westside of Utah and Salt Lake counties freeway access especially to the communities of Lehi, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain. The design is to relieve pressure on Lehi’s main street which is a prime example of piss-poor planning.Who allows for thousands of homes to be built on a road that goes through a downtown area on a two lane road with stoplights every 100 feet as the primary freeway access?Let me give you two dumb cities to do such: Provo and Lehi, This road is a serious problem. The solution the Mountainview Corridor.

I-15 in Utah county also has a serious congestion problem thatneeds to be addressed and the solution could be the Mountainview corridor however money and politics have become the roadblock of progress in Utah. Utah government seems to love to bend over and screw the public if it will make money for a small few aka Real Salt Lake deal.

I-15 congestion in the Lehi to Orem section is as bad as the 405 in Orange county CA during rush hour on a Friday before a three-day weekend. It’s out of control. If the mountainview corridor goes far enough south as in Lindon it could relieve some of the traffic and allow for future growth. Enter the public nightmare Dave Klock.

Dave Klock has been portrayed in the media as the saviour of the world. Lets bring down this false god with a few facts.Dave Klock is the head of Citizens Organized for Smarter Transportation (COST). This website makes Dave Cost look like an environmentalist; he is not.Dave Klock is a real estate developer with landholdings in the south end of Lehi and Saratoga springs or in simple speak the path of the highway if it were to go south and to Lindon. The COST website makes it sound like this is an environmental issue when in all reality its about Dave losing on his investment.

In today’s Daily Herald it appears that Klock has already clouded the vision of Saratoga Springs city leadership.

“The Saratoga Springs City Council approved the resolution supporting UDOT's alternative at 2100 North for a freeway as the ‘least disruptive to existing and future development.’ The council also noted it had the least amount of environmental impact while being the most affordable and practical for the traffic demands.”Daily Herald, April 2, 2007.

This article prompted me to write a letter to the Mayor of Saratoga Springs Utah Tim Parker.

Dear Mayor Tim Parker,

Thank you for condemning my home by endorsing the 2100 North option for the Mountainview corridor.Thank you for ruining my homes resale value and removing any ability to sell it. I think this was very thoughtful of you. I was wondering when you will be purchasing my town home now that you have killed its value?

I think you are very short sighted. I-15 has a problem and you have just added to the problem. The purpose of the Mountainview corridor is to relieve traffic on I-15 and to allow Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs better freeway access. The Mountainview corridor needs to go as far south as possible to be the best alternative. By choosing this path you have created just another footnote is Utah’s poorly planned transportation network.

“The Saratoga Springs City Council approved the resolution supporting UDOT's alternative at 2100 North for a freeway as the ‘least disruptive to existing and future development.’ The council also noted it had the least amount of environmental impact while being the most affordable and practical for the traffic demands.” Daily Herald, April 2, 2007.

My question to you is: how much money is developer Dave Klock spending to make you blind?

Sincerely

Eran Bair

To clarify: the thought of losing my house to progress like a freeway doesn’t bother me at all. I just hope to get a fair value and for this to happen asap.I don’t want to be stuck in my house for 5 years while this all gets settled. Lets make a choice and get moving because currently I am in limbo.I have lost the desire to finish my basement, redo my backyard with sprinklers and several other projects I would like to do this summer. Right now it will make it tough to sell my house with so much unknown and even tougher on its value. That being said I still think that this is a bad idea to use 2100 North in Lehi as the route to connect the Mountainview corridor.

Lehi city has proposed tree lined connectors to the Mountainview corridor. I like this idea.2100 North is still a major part of this and I am fine with that as long as it doesn’t become a Bangerter highway fiasco aka poor design and poor traffic management.

It just sickens me to watch Utah make poor decisions based on the influence of a few wealthy people looking out for their own interests.

Labels: Citizens Organized for Smarter Transportation (COST), Mountain View Corridor, Saratoga Springs Mayor, Tim Parker, Utah Developer Dave Klock