Most favor toll roads — asap

Toll roads are the way to go, Utahns say, but only if it means new roads are built now and not later.

A new Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll by Dan Jones & Associates shows that 55 percent of Utahns would support construction of toll roads in the state if it meant a needed road could be built within the next three years versus the next 20 years.

Almost 40 percent of the 415 people surveyed said they would oppose toll roads, regardless of when a new road were to be built. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

State officials as well as the sponsor of a pro-toll-road bill said the numbers weren't surprising.

"Hello reality. That's what we're looking at here," said Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse. "If you understand the concept that a road isn't going to build itself, that it is going to take financing and the corridor could potentially not exist by the time financing becomes available, it brings a completely different perspective."

Killpack is sponsoring a bill this session, SB80, that would allow the Utah Department of Transportation to enter into public-private partnership to build toll roads. Under such a partnership, a private company would pay for the right to build, maintain and collect tolls on a road. The state could potentially net billions under such a deal.

Killpack's bill has already received approval in the Senate. It is scheduled for debate today in the House Transportation Committee.

While a majority of senators approved the legislation, debate has been divisive. Lawmakers from western Salt Lake County fear the bill is a way to quickly turn the billion-dollar Mountain View Corridor into a toll road. The state is currently studying whether the highway, proposed to stretch from Salt Lake City to Lehi, should be tolled.

"I would be irresponsible in my action if I didn't take into consideration the opinions of the people on the west side of Salt Lake County," said Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley. "And it's not just my constituents but those from I-80 westbound to Lehi. There are other legislators, other representatives and senators and city councils and mayors that are concerned about the road that's being considered as the toll road."

Equally concerning, said Mayne, is the fact that the state would be willing to sell its roads to a private company and perhaps a foreign firm. Of the handful of states that have entered into public-private partnerships, most have dealt with foreign companies.