Utah among leaders in nation for putting stimulus funds to use

Utah is among the country's leaders in efficient use of stimulus funds for transportation projects, according to a report released last week to the Utah Transportation Committee — and the state is squeezing more miles out of every dollar, thanks to the current, highly competitive construction market.

Utah Department of Transportation officials said the federal help is contributing to what's shaping up to be a record year for highway construction in sheer number of projects in play.

Brian Cawley, assistant division administrator for the Utah Division of the Federal Highway Administration, told the commission last Thursday that Utah was tracking well ahead of most states in putting federal stimulus dollars to work on roads projects.

"Utah has already met and surpassed the 120-day requirement for having 50 percent of the funds obligated," Cawley said. "This is excellent … we're out there on the forefront of moving out projects."

Utah has obligated over $129 million of the allocated $215 million from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds earmarked for transportation infrastructure in the state. Cawley said the speed with which the funds are being put to use is already making an impact on Utah's anemic economy.

"People are working now and getting paychecks from the ARRA money here in the state of Utah," Cawley said. "It's employing people and that's a great step forward."

Jim McMinimee, UDOT's project development director, said the stimulus dollars are contributing to creating a record year for the agency in number of projects underway.

"This is the very largest construction program that we've ever reported," McMinimee said. "We have 169 projects currently under construction … over $2 billion worth of work out there."

McMinimee also presented the results of an analysis of bidding trends for recent UDOT projects. Looking at the last 30 projects for which they've received bids, McMinimee said companies have undershot pre-project engineer's valuations by 30 percent, resulting in $73 million in savings for those projects. He attributed the lower bids to an increased level of competition among contractors for state projects.

"A huge contributing factor is the number of bidders we're getting on projects," McMinimee said. "It wasn't very long ago that we were only averaging one-and-a-half to two bidders per project, now our latest bids … are drawing nine or ten bidders."

Commission Chairman Stuart Adams said the competition was creating a direct benefit for the state's residents.

"I look at that 30 percent and see it as a tax savings for the people of Utah," Adams said. "Projects are getting done that have needed to be done…and stretching our dollars much further."

McMinimee said the state has awarded $514 million in project funding thus far this year on its way to a year-end total that should top out at about $1.8 billion.

E-MAIL: araymond@desnews.com