With plans underway for an expansion of Legacy Parkway between Davis and Salt Lake counties, North Salt Lake City Council is looking for ways to minimize the effect of the project on their city, which will include an increase in traffic and traffic sounds from drivers attempting to get around the construction barriers. 

The Legacy Parkway expansion project will add an additional third lane, from Farmington to 1-215. The new lanes would be in between the existing northbound and southbound lane. Legacy’s current footprint would remain the same, according to Legacy Parkway Study Project Manager, Eric Chaston in a Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) video that provides an overview of the project. Chaston said it will not necessitate the purchase of further land, or impede on any of the nearby nature preserves. 

UDOT estimates that an expansion of Legacy Parkway could save the state around $200 million and shave a year off the 1-15 reconstruction project. In addition, the expansion will help to improve travel times and consistency in traffic throughout Davis and Salt Lake Counties. Studies done by UDOT also predict that if no improvements are made to Legacy Parkway by 2050 drivers would experience excessive delays along that stretch of road. 

When the expansion is completed North Salt Lake will have many advantages but during construction there will be inconveniences that the City Council is brainstorming on how to minimize them. 

Of serious concern is the significant increase in noise levels from the jump in traffic volume. In order to combat this problem sound barriers will be placed in spots along the Legacy Parkway where it is deemed necessary and wanted by the nearby homeowners. For aesthetic purposes sound barriers will not be constructed around Legacy Park. Another way that the North Salt Lake City Council is considering battling the noise level from Legacy Parkway is through suggesting that UDOT place speed restrictions on the strip of road. 

Angie Keaton, North Salt Lake resident and founder of the group, Save Legacy Parkway believes that public transit should be the primary mode of relief during reconstruction. She suggested that construction on Legacy Parkway not begin until the FrontRunner has expanded service, with 10 extra trains, and a train coming every 15 minutes and make it free during the project. “This will show people Farmington northward that public transit is an option to make the most of their commute,” she said. 

Sherrie Pace, Community Development Director for North Salt Lake, also believes that public transit should be pushed as a way to avoid traffic congestion during the reconstruction project.. “My husband works in Provo, and the transmission went out in his truck earlier this year, and so he started taking the FrontRunner,” she said at the Oct. 6 City Council meeting. “And now, even when he has his truck back, he takes the FrontRunner to work every day. He loves it. He loves not being in traffic. It really changed him, just trying it out. And I really believe that people just trying out transit makes a huge difference in them seeing it as a viable option.” 

The Legacy Parkway expansion project is expected to begin and end in 2026. Chaston believes they can complete the reconstruction in one construction season.