From Deseret News archives:
Legacy effort fails
But highway bill does have $1.8 billion for Utah
Hatch, Sen. Bob Bennett and Rep. Rob Bishop, all R-Utah, attempted to insert language into a massive transportation bill that would halt any court challenge over the controversial highway's environmental issues. However, the language did not make it into the final version of the bill late Thursday due to strong lobbying efforts by opponents.
"The people who have now cost the state of Utah what some estimate to be over $300 million made it impossible, with the help of a very few allies in Congress, to get it through," Hatch said in a statement late Thursday. "In my estimation, this issue is not over."
Congress is expected to complete passage sometime today of the massive highway bill, which includes $1.8 billion for Utah transportation projects. The House was expected to pass it sometime after midnight Thursday and Senate passage is expected later today.
The bill allocates approximately $282 million each year to Utah over the next five years. Utah's delegation also secured $430 million over five years earmarked to fund specific transportation projects across the state.
Hatch said the funding is the highest total ever committed to Utah in a federal transportation bill, "and it is long overdue."
"Probably the single greatest thing it does for us is it gives us stability and allows us to better plan out what improvements we can make to the transportation system on a long-term basis as opposed to a short-term, piecemeal basis," said UDOT spokesman Tom Hudachko.
Hatch led the efforts to prevent more legal challenges to the long-delayed and controversial Legacy Parkway — a highway that would give motorists an alternative to increasingly crowded I-15 between Davis and Salt Lake counties — and was joined by fellow Republicans Bennett and Bishop. He added, however, that he is not dissuaded by the setback to the transportation corridor he contends is vital.
"My goal is to save our state millions of dollars and get this highway done so the quality of life of those who work south and live north of the project will be improved," Hatch said.
A previous court challenge by the Sierra Club and Utahns for Better Transportation caused Legacy construction costs to skyrocket from $451 million to $684 million, according to Utah Department of Transportation estimates.
UDOT officials have been in negotiations with several environmental groups for nearly six months to avoid another court challenge. Marc Heileson, regional representative for the Sierra Club, said his group will continue to negotiate with UDOT, although Hatch's attempt to "sidestep" environmental laws worried Sierra Club officials Thursday.
"That would have permanently derailed all that progress we have made," Heileson said. "We are so close, and I think hopefully that after the dust settles after this rider scare that we can get back to business and move this forward."
E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com
