Battle brewing over funds for transportation

Although the governor has proposed that Utah's highways and transportation system receive record amounts of funding during the upcoming legislative session, GOP lawmakers say a bitter fight for even more dollars is likely.

That threat — along with a proposal that Utah add more toll roads — could make transportation one of the top issues on Capitol Hill as the 2006 Legislature convenes on Monday.

"We would look very foolish after creating that much dust last year (about transportation) without accomplishing what we need to do," says Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse. "Transportation is still a major issue, and we have to fund it properly."

The fight will likely be about where to get the money — from existing funds or by borrowing it. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is calling for $83 million in general obligation bonds for transportation.

A new Dan Jones & Associates poll for the Deseret Morning News and KSL-TV shows that 52 percent of Utahns either strongly or somewhat favor bonding to build roads, while about 43 percent somewhat or strongly oppose that. The statewide survey of 406 Utahns had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

Jones found more opposition than support for toll roads.

Legislation Killpack is sponsoring would allow the state to join with private builders to construct, manage or maintain such highways with state supervision.

"You will notice this is not the state setting up it's own tolling agency and creating a large bureaucracy to handle this," the senator said. "I'm truly interested in a private partner coming in and handling the operation of (such a) facility."

Utah law states that existing roads cannot be turned into toll roads. Killpack's bill would apply only to new roads. At present, the Mountain View Corridor on the Salt Lake Valley's west side is the only state road being considered as a potential toll road.

But Utahns are wary, pollster Dan Jones found when asked about toll roads.

About 41 percent of residents said they either strongly or somewhat favor building toll roads; 56 percent oppose the idea. As for public-private-partnerships, 43 percent said they favor that, while 52 percent said they oppose it.

Killpack says the response would have been different if the question were put into the context of whether a road should be built now, as a toll road, or later, as a taxpayer-funded road.