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Copyright 1997, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Road planners may be unsure of exactly where to build the West Davis Highway, but this much is clear: Residents of southern Davis County want it.
That's the upshot of a poll taken for The Salt Lake Tribune by Valley Research earlier this month.
The survey shows 64 percent of southern Davis County residents back the proposed highway, which would cover 12 miles from Farmington to Salt Lake City. Nineteen percent oppose it. The road is intended to relieve congestion on Interstate 15 and provide another major thoroughfare in northern Utah.
But Salt Lake County residents are ambivalent about the $300 million road -- 42 percent want it and 38 percent don't. That's a statistical dead heat in the poll, which carries a 4 percent margin of error.
When combined, the results show 47 percent for the highway and 35 percent against it. Nineteen percent are unsure.
``This is a pleasant little Christmas present,'' says Carlos Braceras, project engineer for the Utah Department of Transportation.
The survey results also please the highway's top booster: Gov. Mike Leavitt.
``The poll demonstrates who has to sit in traffic most,'' says Leavitt, who sees the West Davis Highway as the first leg of a longer Legacy Highway. ``There is a growing appeal for this highway. It's almost predictable that people who would be most affected by it...