Panel OKs $1 billion in road construction

ST. GEORGE — Road construction projects totaling nearly $1 billion were given the green light from the Utah Transportation Commission during its meeting here Wednesday.

"This list isn't rigid," Commissioner Stephen Bodily said before the panel voted to approve nearly two dozen projects scattered throughout the state. "We will listen to public comment and there may be some changes down the line before this becomes part of our program."

The commission's recommendations will be presented to the Legislature's Executive Appropriations Committee for review in July.

Utah Department of Transportation officials also updated the commission on an analysis that looked at making U.S. 6 and the proposed Southern Parkway near St. George toll roads.

"To look at tolling you have to look at alternate routes," said UDOT Region 4 director Dal Hawks. "Toll rates are based on the time you would save by taking the toll road."

According to the study, Hawks said, placing a toll on U.S. 6 would not make financial sense.

"The study, in some sense, bore out our suspicions that U.S. 6 is still a rural road and tolling wouldn't create the revenue it might in another corridor," Hawks said. "It's also very difficult to toll existing highways."

The Southern Parkway would begin at a new intersection now under construction about six miles north of the Utah border with Arizona. The new highway would connect traffic to the new $200 million St. George airport, scheduled to open in 2011.

"Tolling looks like it has some promise, but other tools hold more promise," Hawks said.

Some of those funding sources could be a reallocation of future property taxes, imposing special tax assessments or using development impact fees, he added.

"We feel very good about the opportunity to capture some of these revenue streams to help fund the Southern Parkway," Hawks said.

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