Driving on Utah roads in 1997 likely will cost more, and it will take more patience to navigate around all the construction.
At his monthly KUED news conference, Gov. Mike Leavitt said the Utah Legislature will be asked to increase the gasoline tax by about 1 cent per gallon to help fund the renovation of I-15. That increase, which Leavitt prefers to call "indexing for inflation," would raise between $10 million and $12 million a year.Leavitt said the gasoline tax "indexing" should come as no surprise. It has been part of the governor's 10-year transportation plan that originated with last year's Growth Summit. That plan calls for the state to spend more than $3 billion on highway construction over a 10-year period.
The 1996 Legislature put $75 million in the base budget toward the transportation package; that will raise about $750 million over the 10 years and perhaps more if the Legislature increases the annual appropriation.
The balance will come from federal funds, improved efficiency in the way the Department of Transportation is operated, existing state transportation funds and some combination of surplus state funds and other surpluses.