OCR Text |
Show UDOT to Consider Big 1-70 Link Statement The Utah Transportation Commission will consider the Final Environment Impact Statement on the proposed construction of I 70 through the Sevier Valley during a regular meeting of the Commission Com-mission Friday, March 18, in Salt Lake City. The statement details the social, economic and environmental environ-mental impacts of the proposed pro-posed construction of 32 miles of 1-70 from Sevier Junction to Salina in Sevier County. If the Commission adopts the document, it will be submitted to the Federal Highway Administration, who will then forward it to the Council on Environmental Quality. Either agency may suggest changes or additions to the environmental study. After the study, with any changes, is approved by the federal government, the Final Environmental Impact Statement State-ment will be made available to interested agencies and the I public. Approval of the docu- r ment also gives the Utah Department of Transportation Transporta-tion authority to begin the final design work and actual construction of the project. The Commission had adop- I ted the location of the Sevier Junction to Sigurd segment of the highway in 1968 and the design for the segment in 1970. However, the passage of the National Environmental i Policy Act in 1969 required the UDOT to reconsider the i location after conducting an environmental impact '"study on the routing of the highway. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement prepared by UDOT outlined three alternatives al-ternatives for the location of the highway. One route proposed pro-posed to follow an alignment on the west side of the Sevier Valley, another along the east side of the valley, and a third to travel through the center of the valley. After considering the findings find-ings of the draft E.I.S. and the testimony received at public hearings on the proposed highway, the Commission, in November, 1976, determined that the west alternate, which was the route that was originally origi-nally selected, would have the greatest public benefit and least adverse impact on the environment. Looking at the adopted route, north to south, the highway will begin on the east side of the Valley at the Salina Interchange in the mouth of Salina Canyon. It will then follow the east foothills and cross the valley a few miles north of Sigurd. The highway will then skirt the west foothills, foot-hills, passing near the west side of Richfield, before connecting con-necting into the 1-70 project currently underway in Clear Creek Canyon. When completed, 1-70 will connect with 1-15 near Cove Fort and will serve as a major carrier of traffic between Denver and the West Coast. |