UDOT Turning the Legacy Parkway into a Freeway

UPHE condemns the move by UDOT to turn the Legacy Parkway into just another freeway, increasing the speed limit and allowing big rig trucks. The Desert News published an article discussing this decision. The article was written by Katie McKellar

A few years ago, representatives of UPHE including trauma surgeons and ER physicians met with UDOT in an attempt to get them to understand all the public health, safety, air quality and greenhouse gas benefits of reduced freeway speed limits.

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There are even studies that show increased freeway speed limits increase the speed that cars travel once they get off the freeway, increasing accident rates and severity of accidents, including auto-pedestrian accidents throughout the roadway network. UDOT ignored everything we said. UDOT acts like an agency unto themselves, usually in opposition to the public interest.

Legacy Parkway’s current speed limit of 55 mph and will be 65 mph. The justification for doing raising the speed limit is bizarre: “The new speed limit is based off a UDOT traffic study that found 85% of drivers are already going around 70 mph on Legacy Parkway.

“’Regardless of what the signs say, this is how people are behaving on the roadway,’ Robert Miles, UDOT director of traffic and safety.”

So according to UDOT, people are already breaking the law and going too fast, so their answer is to make it easier for them to go even faster. UDOT’s approach is a callous and warped set of priorities. And BTW, this another piece of collateral damage from the inland port.