$4 billion in roads projects on hold, including I-15 South
Joe Pyrah - Daily Herald
State transportation officials have put the brakes on $4 billion worth of road projects, including the massive Interstate 15 reconstruction through Utah County.
Sales tax revenues have tanked in the deepening economic crisis, leaving the Department of Transportation with an unknown amount of money to work with, said Deputy Director Carlos Braceras.
"We have to make sure we don't paint the governor or legislators into a corner," he said. "We could have easily painted them into an awful corner by putting all this money out for construction."
Anything currently under contract will continue to get funding, but it will be up to Utah's 104 lawmakers to hammer out as-of-now postponed projects in the 2009 session.
"We're not going to build a project if we don't have money," said Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, who led the push for last year's approval of the I-15 project.
The state slashed $35 million from the transportation budget earlier this year as part of a 3-percent across-the-board cut because of revenue shortfalls. And just this week, revenue projections show a decline of 7.3 percent.
Valentine said he suspects that number will be in the 11- to 12-percent range come January.
"It's serious," he said of the state's economic situation, though with the caveat that Utah seems to be doing better than most other states.
The I-15 project was slated to begin within the next year and would have added lanes and new bridges from Lehi Main Street to U.S. 6 in Spanish Fork. Lawmakers approved a $2.6 billion price tag in this year's general session that would have drawn on much of the state's bonding capacity for years.
Braceras said it is still UDOT's No. 1 concern.
"By putting these projects on hold, we're not saying we're canceling," said Braceras, who sees himself as an optimist. "Things turn around faster than most people believe."
Braceras said he and others made the decision to put the projects on hold over the past few days.
"Sometime over the last three days we've had a sense of where we needed to draw that line."
County Commissioner Steve White said the county would have liked to have been in on the talks instead of simply being informed about the decision. The county passed a sales tax increase this year for roads that are supposed to support I-15 reconstruction. Commissioners also recently got an advance on future taxes from the Utah Transit Authority for about $55 million total over the next three years to boost the building of roads that are needed as Interstate 15 alternatives.
Utah County projects on hold:
Interstate 15
SR-198: Spanish Fork Main Street, Fairgrounds to Arrowhead
Geneva Road: Provo Center Street/I-15 to Orem 1600 North
US-89 (State Street): Pleasant Grove Boulevard to 100 East
US-89 (State Street): 2000 North in Orem to Geneva Road
SR-265: University Parkway at 2230 North, Provo
SR-92: I-15 to Highland
Utah Valley Connector (Utah Lake study)
800 North to I-15 American Fork interchange (Vineyard)
East/West connection in Utah County (Mountain View Corridor)
