Legacy Parkway Speed Limit Going To 65 MPH; Large Trucks Will Also Be Allowed
Oct 18, 2019, 11:19 AM
(Photo: Steve Griffin, Deseret News)
BRIGHAM CITY, Utah – Officials with the Utah Department of Transportation on Friday announced the speed limit on Legacy Parkway will go up beginning in 2020.
UDOT officials said that with the expiration of the negotiated Legacy Parkway agreement on Jan. 1, the speed limit on the 14-mile, four-lane parkway will be raised to 65 miles per hour. Large semi-trucks, banned since the Parkway opened in 2008, will also be allowed to use Legacy.
The changes were announced during the monthly meeting of the Utah Transportation Commission.
“The Agreement was a great thing because it allowed us to complete a roadway that has made a real difference in mobility in south Davis County,” UDOT Traffic and Safety Director Robert Miles told Transportation Commissioners. “But the Agreement had a sunset date: Jan. 1, 2020. The only way that sunset could be extended is through legislative action, and the legislature has chosen not to extend it. So the Agreement expires Jan. 1.”
With the expiration of the Agreement, UDOT has no authority to keep large semi-trucks off the roadway, Miles said, “so that change just automatically happens.”
The decision to raise the speed limit to 65 miles per hour is based on UDOT speed studies indicating drivers are already averaging between 65 and 70 miles per hour on the roadway despite the 55 mile per hour speed limit.
“Legacy Parkway was designed to accommodate speeds higher than 55 miles per hour, so it is safe and comfortable to drive at 65,” Miles said. “We decided to raise the speed limit to a speed that is closer to what drivers are actually driving. In doing so, we hope to eliminate the safety risk of speed discrepancy, which can happen when you have a significant difference between the speed most drivers are actually traveling and those who are driving the posted speed limit.”
The new speed limit and changes regarding big semi-trucks will both go into effect beginning Jan. 1.