"This has been in process for a long time," said Gardner, who will testify before the House subcommittee next week. "There are some trade-offs in the bill, but I think this is as good as we can get. It will go a long way toward resolving wilderness issues."

Hurricane Mayor Tom Hirschi said his town needs a northern transportation corridor of its own to handle the amount of expected growth in the valley.

"I don't want urban sprawl. There's a lot of planning that needs to take place, and I still have a lot of questions," Hirschi said. "But I think the wilderness people are getting big benefits in this bill — more than the rest of us are."

Lawson LeGate, Utah field director for the Sierra Club, said Friday that the bill is "a camel's nose under the tent."

"The question is, do we treasure our public lands or treat them like cash cows?" he said. "Where will it all end? It's a fundamentally bad idea to sell off public lands to fund pet projects of local politicians."

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