Utah officials went for the (transportation) gold Tuesday, telling Congress that they need $4.3 billion worth of federal help with freeway, airport and light-rail construction to make the 2002 Games run smoothly.
With that, their strategy was much different than the long parade of testimony by other states and cities - which merely tried to explain how their projects would relieve traffic congestion, pollution and accidents.Utah officials rarely mentioned such mundane topics - and essentially staged a rally about how the Olympics will show America to the world, so the federal government should help ensure Utah transportation is not an embarrassment.
"This is not just Salt Lake City's Olympics. This is the United States' Olympics," Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini told the House Transportation Subcommittee on Surface Transportation.
A long line of Utah officials then gave short explanations why different projects are important to the Olympics (without talking much about other details) and why Congress should permit future federal spending on them as it reauthorizes the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA).
Utah's Olympic organizers, however, have previously acknowledged that only $55 million worth of projects must be completed to host the 2002 Winter Games, a list that includes new access roads to the Utah Winter Sports Park and the Snowbasin ski resort.
In exchange for UDOT's support of those projects, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee is loaning the Olympic label to everything on the state's $4.3 billion list.
Hence, Utah officials were freely waving the Olympic flag in Washington Tuesday.
For example, Russell Widmar, executive director of the Salt Lake International Airport explained how $500 million for "a full-scale rebuilding of the airport and its linkages to highway and transit" would help the Olympics.
He noted that "95 percent of all visitors to the state during the Olympic Games will arrive by air," but most of the airport's "facilities were constructed over 35 years ago and have difficulty meeting even today's demand level."
Tom Welch, president and chief executive officer of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for Olympic Winter Games of 2002, noted that attendance at Olympic Games since 1984 has doubled - meaning Salt Lake City faces additional challenges in handling such crowds.
"It truly has become a mass-transit experience," he said. Utah is requesting $1.6 million for light-rail and commuter-rail projects.
West Jordan Mayor Max Hogan, who is also chairman of the Wasatch Front Regional Council, also said the Olympics require commuter-rail projects - including a spur of light rail between the airport and the University of Utah.
He said they "will move Olympic participants between the airport, the downtown hotels, the venues for figure skating and ice hockey, and the Olympic village located at the University of Utah."
Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan emphasized that the Olympics are bringing improved transportation needs not just to areas with Olympic venues, but also throughout the Wasatch Front.
"Whether all of the cities represented here today have Olympic venues or not, all of our cities will necessarily be involved insupplying housing for these Olympic visitors," he said.
He added that $1.6 billion the state is seeking for help with reconstruction of I-15 is essential. "Every person attending the 2002 Olympics in any capacity must travel on either I-15 or I-80 at some point," he said.
Welch said, "We have accelerated 15 years of projects into five so that when the world comes, it will find America at its best."
Tom Warne, executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation, said the state is willing to do its part, noting it just raised gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees to help fund such projects - which he said will benefit the state for years after the Olympics.
"There is no throw-away projects in this proposal," Warne said. He added that he hopes that planned "intelligent transportation" systems will also make a good impression on Olympic visitors by helping speed them on their way.
"For 17 days, Utah will be the window through which the world views the United States of America," he said. "Utah and this nation must join . . . to support the 2002 Games."
Rep. Merrill Cook, R-Utah, a member of the subcommittee, introduced the officials. Cook is pushing to add a section to the new ISTEA highway project's bill to allow federal officials wider discretion to give more money to cities hosting the Olympics.
Deseret News staff writer Lisa Riley Roche contributed to this report.