From Deseret News archives:

Lawmakers tackle road-project funding

By Zack Van Eyck
Deseret Morning News

Published: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 9:35 p.m. MDT

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Njord said UDOT's success in rebuilding I-15, 1997-2001, was both a blessing and a curse. People still come from across the globe to see how UDOT rebuilt 17 miles of freeway using the accelerated design-build construction method, now a model for transportation projects worldwide. But other Utahns saw that success and now want to know when the roads and freeways they use every day will get the same treatment.

"There are big projects. There are small projects. But we all know what the big ones are," Njord said. "I-15 in Utah County, I-15 in Davis County, Interstate 80 in Salt Lake County, the Mountain View Corridor in Salt Lake County and Utah County, the list goes on — state route 6 in Utah County and Carbon County. . . .

"Those people that use those facilities are delayed because they (the roads) are not up to snuff today. . . . They (motorists) are not willing to wait 30 years. They're not willing to wait probably 10 years. They want their improvements now and . . . we're unable even to begin to address any of those needs as a result of the current situation we find ourselves in."

Utah Transit Authority officials echoed what their counterparts at UDOT had to say.

"We have . . . a national and local crisis in transportation," UTA general manager John Inglish told the task force. "And what's frustrating to us in this business is it seems to be ignored . . ."

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Njord suggested it will take some "innovative approaches" to solve the funding issues now facing the state and offered to help the task force as it spends the summer wrestling with the issues.

Task force policy analyst Ben Christensen outlined existing revenue sources and suggested several areas the panel might consider as potential money generators.

The state receives about 85 percent of its transportation funds through the gasoline tax, and yet Utah's gas tax ranks in the middle of the pack (26th) among the states, he said. The state's vehicle registration fee is another possible source of additional revenue.

E-mail: zman@desnews.com