Rail funds inch closer

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday pushed $80 million in federal money one step closer to helping build a commuter-rail line stretching between Box Elder and Utah counties.

The Treasury-Transportation and HUD Appropriations Act, approved by the House on Wednesday, would give the Utah Transit Authority $80 million this coming fiscal year as reimbursement for work already done on the initial 44 miles of the FrontRunner commuter-rail line from Salt Lake City to Pleasant View. The funding has yet to be approved by the Senate.

Also, more than $3 million to improve highway safety and congestion needs in Washington and San Juan counties was approved, said Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah.

The money was part of President Bush's trillion-dollar budget released to Congress in February.

The Federal Transit Administration had recommended giving UTA $490 million for FrontRunner over the next six years — more than 80 percent of the project's expected $581 million price tag.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said the administration's initial request for the money helped convince the House appropriators that the funds needed to stay in the bill.

"In all fairness, this was not a hard sell," Bishop said.

UTA spokesman Justin Jones said Wednesday that the money will help repay $350 million in bond money that UTA already spent in the last two years for preliminary engineering and environmental work for the commuter-rail line.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta is scheduled to visit the planned site for the Farmington FrontRunner station Friday to announce the federal funding for the actual construction of the line.

Bishop said Wednesday's funding approval "represents significant progress" in the project and will help with local efforts for financing commuter rail.

"This is a big deal," he said. "Quality transportation is key to Utah's future and to keeping our economy rolling. We need all the funding we can get, and this appropriations bill is part of our ongoing efforts to secure money for important projects in our state."

The Senate still needs to approve its version of the transportation spending bill, which also funds the Housing and Urban Development Department and the Treasury Department. House members and senators will work out any differences between the versions of the bill, and each chamber will pass it again before it goes to the president.

Bishop said he does not expect the number to change because "it jives with what the administration wanted."

The House also approved $1.25 million for improvements to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge access road, which will help the Box Elder County and nearby Brigham City economies, according to Bishop's office, as well as $750,000 for construction of a parallel taxiway at the Ogden-Hinckley Airport.

---

E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com; dsmeath@desnews.com