38 projects OK'd for UDOT

TAYLORSVILLE — The Utah Department of Transportation's governing body, the Utah Transportation Commission, approved a list of 38 projects Thursday that the agency wants to complete with federal economic-stimulus money.

UDOT Executive Director John Njord estimates that money for UDOT projects, combined with money for city and county construction projects, will create 6,000 jobs.

The agency will hire contractors to complete the projects — which are mostly small, such as pavement preservation and bridge construction — and the contractors will hire engineers, flaggers and concrete and asphalt specialists.

The projects include the $3.8 million Valley View Drive Bridge in Washington County, which UDOT is replacing after the bridge was destroyed by flooding in 2005. Other projects on the list are rehabilitation or replacement of four bridges along I-15 around Payson for $6.5 million, and $15 million in ramp and lane improvements along I-15 in the southern part of Salt Lake County.

Between December 2007 and December 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor estimates 18,300 jobs in construction have been lost in Utah. Construction is the most impacted sector of employment in the state.

The wages for the employees will range from low to high, depending on skill level. For federal contracts, the state must follow the U.S. Department of Labor's wage guidelines, which vary by county. In Salt Lake County, the wages range from $6.88 an hour for flaggers to $33.90 for drivers of certain earth-moving trucks.

As of Thursday, UDOT did not know how much money it will receive from the federal economic-stimulus package. On Wednesday, Congress reached accord on the $790 billion economic-recovery package, intended to create or save 3.5 million jobs in a recession many economists believe will prove to be the nation's worst since the Great Depression. The House and Senate may vote on the final version of the measure this week.

When the House of Representatives passed one version of the bill, it looked like UDOT was to receive about $155 million for construction projects and an additional $10 million for community "enhancement" projects to improve sidewalks or plant gardens, said Ahmed Jaber, the Utah Department of Transportation's systems, planning and program director.

But when the Senate began negotiating the bill with the House, several expenditures were slashed, and Jaber thinks that the ultimate amount of money for UDOT could be as low as $120 million, which was the Senate's original proposal.