If you live on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley you will be interested to hear that the Mountain View Corridor has been given the go ahead.

For the first phase they have been allocated $500 million, which they will use to construct a two lane highway (two lanes either way), with a speed limit of 45 mph and signalized intersections. Initially the road will be constructed between 9000 south and Redwood Road in Salt Lake County and between 2100 north and I-15 in Utah County.

This may sound like a cop out, but the idea is that when further funding is available the intersections will be converted into interchanges, and additional lanes added to make it a fully fledged freeway.

I believe this is a good idea, as long as the additional funding does become available. The west side does not currently need a major freeway, but will do in the future. The way it has been planned provides a balance between current needs and available funds.

In addition to the normal traffic lanes there are also plans for dedicated transit lanes, where bus, street car or light rail could run. At the moment there are no firm plans for the exact type of transit to be used in these lanes.