Funding lacking to maintain Utah roadways and bridges, UDOT director says

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Department of Transportation officials warned legislators Wednesday that without increased maintenance funding, a growing number of Utah roadways and bridges will continue to deteriorate.

While the total number of miles driven on Utah highways has increased about 13 percent since 2002, funding earmarked for keeping those roads pothole-free has remained essentially flat.

UDOT executive director John Njord told the Transportation Interim Committee that new revenue streams are badly needed to keep pace with taking care of an increasing number of roadways and bridges.

"We're not advocating for increased revenue today," Njord said, "but we know from time to time ... in a future session, some of you will be able to apply additional funds for transportation. A portion ought to be dedicated toward maintenance. We can't just build capacity projects all the time."

Citing one example of maintenance funding being outpaced by need, Njord said the majority of Utah highway bridges were built in the 1960s and '70s and have a life expectancy of about 40 years. To keep up with replacing those bridges, about 50 new bridges should be completed every year, but the current transportation budget is only covering 15 replacements.

Possible sources for new revenues include increasing the state's 24.5 cents per gallon motor fuel tax, earmarking some taxes collected on automobile and automobile-related purchases for transportation or even assessing a user fee to drivers based on where they drive and how many highway miles they accumulate.

e-mail: araymond@desnews.com