Utah's congressional delegation and Gov. Mike Leavitt tried Thursday to convert the most powerful congressional enemy of Utah's proposed light rail into a friend.
How did it work? "I was most optimistic by the fact that he's willing to come out and look at it," Leavitt said after a closed-door meeting with House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud Shuster, R-Pa.In other words, Shuster didn't flat out tell the Utahns his mind is made up to forever fight light-rail mass transit. And Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, said Shuster even offered some ideas on how to mix transportation projects in Utah to gain better funding.
Last year, Shuster warned he would fight annual funding requests for light rail because Utahns had never obtained the required full congressional authorization for the project through his committee.
He noted Congress had authorized only $131 million of the light rail system's $302 million cost.
And he complained Utah wants other committees that divide the annual budget pie to have the federal government pay 80 percent of light rail's cost, while other authorized projects elsewhere seek only 50 percent or less for a federal share.
Leavitt and the delegation on Thursday tried to build bridges with Shuster by discussing the state's overall transportation needs - and how light rail fits in - as it prepares for the 2002 Olympics.
Leavitt said, "We talked about the importance of the Olympics, and being able to make certain that we showcase Utah as the eyes through which 3 billion people will see the United States.
"He stated he feels the federal government ought to step up and help us the same way it has Atlanta and Los Angeles."
And Shuster also said he is willing to come to Utah and look first-hand at its transportation system and Olympic venues.
"My experience is that when they see it, it's a much easier sale," Leavitt said.
He added that officials talked about Utah's overall transportation needs and that it has committed to spend $3.5 billion over the next decade to meet them - so that Congress knows Utah is not just looking for a handout.
Such overall needs include not only the Salt Lake City-to-Sandy light rail but rebuilding I-15 in Salt Lake County, building a West Davis County highway, improving U.S. 89 in Davis County and other projects.
"We're looking at this as more of a full unit instead of just looking at what do we think we can get for a light-rail system," said Rep. Enid Waldholtz, R-Utah.
She added that with Shuster's help, the delegation is looking at ways to more creatively mix projects to take advantage of what money is available - but the delegation would not elaborate much.
Waldholtz, however, said an example is that last year, Utah acquired more money for recon- struction of I-15 from mass-transit funds - not highway funds - by including plans for "high-occupancy vehicle lanes" reserved for multi-passenger cars.
But the delegation said Shuster did mention that lack of authorization for such things as light rail and I-15 reconstruction is a problem. They said they will work on trying to obtain that authorization.
Leavitt and the delegation also met Thursday with Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, who also pledged to look closely at Utah plans.
While some members of the delegation and even the GOP's state central committee have questioned the worth of light rail, Leavitt and Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, have said in recent weeks that it is irrevocably tied to hopes of quick rebuilding of I-15.
Bennett has said that if light rail dies, the I-15 project would not be able to obtain needed clean-air permits to proceed; some of its key funding would be lost; and a key alternative to relieve congestion during reconstruction would also disappear.