When does anticipation turn into frustration?
City officials in Midvale can't give you an exact date, but they know they've waited a long, long time for the go-ahead to build a relatively short road.On Friday, the Utah Transportation Commission approved millions of dollars worth of road construction projects for completion across the state in 1998. On the list is $6.3 million in federal, state and local funds to extend 7200 South from 700 West in Midvale, across the Jordan River to 7000 South at 1300 West in West Jordan.
The project had been on the Utah Department of Transportation's Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) for years but was held up because the road would cross a federal Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site in Midvale. The EPA needed time to clear the road right of way for construction.
"There was $1 million appropriated by the Legislature about five years ago," said UDOT Deputy Director Clint Topham. "During that time, the price of the road has gone up, but we never did know which year we were going to do that construction."
The project, which finally received EPA's blessing, is being advertised and work should begin this fall, Topham said.
Midvale recently condemned property on which it will be built.
"It's been a real frustrating thing, very frustrating," Midvale Mayor Donald Poulsen said of his city's dealings with the federal agency. "EPA always said we could build the road. As time went on, it started to fall into place."
Midvale officials also want to improve 7200 South through the eastern part of the city. Once the connection is built, they expect 7200 South/7000 South will become a heavily used east-west thoroughfare - one that could bring development in addition to motorists.
"There's quite a bit of open space that can be absolutely developed on the north side (of the planned road) through to the Murray city line, and that's a pretty big piece of property," Poulsen said. "And I think it will take quite a bit of traffic off 7800 South. They'll just go straight through (on the extension) and hit the Bangerter" Highway.
The road extension will cost around $7 million. About $4 million will come from the federal government, with Midvale and West Jordan chipping in about $500,000 apiece, Topham said.
The STIP, which establishes state transportation funding priorities for the next three years, also includes a whopping $659 million for the I-15 reconstruction project in 1998 alone. That's more than a third of the project's total cost of $1.59 billion.
The state will borrow the bulk of that money and pay it back over time through an increase in the state gasoline-tax and vehicle-registration fees.
Almost $31 million will be spent next year for a new U.S. 89 interchange at Cherry Hills in Davis County. Another $7.7 million will be spent on studies for construction of the Legacy Highway through western Davis County.
In addition to the I-15 work, more than $50 million will be spent in Salt Lake County in 1998. The reconstruction and widening of 9400 South from 1300 to 2100 East in Sandy will consume $9.5 million next year.
Utah and Summit counties will get about $25 million each in road improvements during 1998.
Anything on the 1998 STIP is virtually ensured of construction next year, Topham said. He said 39 of 43 projects he described as "major" have already been advertised to contractors.
Friday's commission meeting was held in Emery County, where rural Utah leaders expressed their own frustration that more money isn't being spent on transportation projects in their areas.
"The commission is looking pretty closely at that," Topham said. "I know they haven't come to a solution yet, but I know they listened to a lot of folks and said they'd go back and redo the data."
Topham said UDOT will work on a number of projects in rural areas during 1998, but many are in the design phase so the money being spent is comparatively low. That will change in a few years when those projects reach the construction phase and the I-15 reconstruction in Salt Lake County is nearly complete.
The commission "may make some adjustments to 1999 and 2000 (on the STIP) in order to start building some of those projects sooner," Topham said.
Also Friday, the commission approved:
- $1.15 million in planning and design work for highway projects to be completed before the 2002 Winter Games: $250,000 to engineer a Winter Sports Park access road in Summit County; $250,000 to engineer improvements to the I-80 interchanges at Kimball Junction and Silver Creek; $250,000 to study possible improvements to U-248 in Summit County; $150,000 to study possible improvements to I-80 at the mouth of Parleys Canyon; $100,000 to study possible improvements to U-89 near the I-84 interchange; $100,000 for general Olympics-related planning; and $50,000 to design modifications to the I-215 interchange at 3500 South in West Valley City.
- Approved a Salt Lake request for $90,000 to continue planning its Gateway Project, which seeks to realign railroad tracks and eliminate numerous rail-street intersections on the city's west side.
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Additional Information
1998 transportation improvement projects
Davis County
U.S. 89 at Cherry Hills New interchange $30,710,795
Legacy Highway Engineering, studies $7,700,000
I-15, 600 North to Centerville Planning, design $2,000,000
Antelope Drive, U-232 to I-15 Widen, resurface $3,753,899
I-15, Farmington Maintenance $1,800,000
U-26 and U-126 Traffic signals $769,000
U-272 from U-106 to U.S. 89 Widen, curb & gutter $750,000
U.S. 89 at Cherry Hills Pedestrian crossing $750,000
Seven sites, including U.S. 89 Traffic signals $670,000
I-15, Woods Cross Noise walls $530,000
400 North, Bountiful Safety upgrade $160,000
U.S. 89, Bountiful Safety upgrade $133,000
Total: $49,726,694
Salt Lake County
I-15, 10800 South-600 North Reconstruction $658,880,000
9400 South, 1300 East-2100 East Rebuild $9,575,000
600 North railroad viaduct Construction $9,000,000
Various traffic management Signals, systems $7,306,639
7200 South, 700 West-1300 West New road $6,295,072
7200 South, State-700 East Widening $3,255,661
I-15, 12300 South interchange Modifications $1,750,000
14600 South, Bluffdale Bridge replacement $1,400,000
12300 South, I-15 to rail tracks Engineering $1,250,000
3300 South/Highland Drive Upgrade $1,119,139
California Ave., Jordan River New bridge $1,000,000
10600 South, I-15 to Redwood Road Engineering $1,000,000
6200 South/3000 East Park-and-ride lot $945,355
Bangerter Highway, 3100 South Pedestrian overpass $862,500
9400 South/2000 East Park-and-ride lot $794,685
9400, 10200 and 11000 South Rail crossing upgrade $710,000
East Jordan Canal, Draper New bridges $700,000
Jordan River Parkway Build trail $640,000
I-80 at Parleys Crossing Bike/pedestrian cross $614,688
5400 South/4800 West Rail crossing $500,000
3500 South at I-215 Interchange upgrade $485,000
California Ave., river trail Underpass, parking $476,500
Garfield cutoff, Kennecott Remove and fill $453,000
Ash Circle, Holladay Noise walls $355,000
3300 South/Highland Drive Intersection upgrade $220,000
Bicycle corridor link Create corridor $161,733
Sunnyside Ave., 1300 East-Foothill Bike lane $85,100
4500 South/Main Safety upgrade $76,000
700 West, Murray Noise walls $51,000
Total: $709,962,072
Utah County
I-15, Orem-American Fork Maintenance $4,800,000
U-2872, east and west legs Rebuild $2,760,000
500 East, American Fork Widening $2,150,000
Various canals, creeks Bridge replacement $2,051,330
American Fork training road Rebuild, new road $1,619,650
Canyon Road, Springville Rebuild $1,087,272
U-6, I-15 to Soldier Summit Environmental study $1,000,000
U-114, Orem-Pleasant Grove Overlay, widening $750,000
Main Street, Spanish Fork Reconstruction $683,174
700 East intersections, Provo Reconstruct $629,310
U-6 at White River Bridge Passing lanes $600,000
Railroad bridge, Springville Upgrade $550,000
I-15, South University Ave. Engineering $500,000
I-15, Springville Bridge work $500,000
I-15, 1200 South, Orem Engineering $500,000
Provo, congested intersections Upgrades $500,000
Provo River Parkway trail Improvements $497,000
500 East/200 South, American Fork Safety upgrade $472,000
300 South, Payson Rebuild $467,661
U-41, U-75 Traffic signals $300,000
Provo, four locations Replace signals $293,600
Bus passes UVSC program $268,154
1200 South/1300 South, Orem Traffic management $165,000
Provo interconnect Fiber optics, network $150,166
1200 East, Lehi Engineering $140,000
Various locations Emissions sensing $135,000
Rideshare vans Purchase $85,809
200 West, Provo Safety upgrade $74,584
3700 North at Provo River Engineering, widen $74,000
820 North, 1400 West-Geneva Road Engineering $72,500
Multimodal transit center, Orem Engineering $64,357
Orem, various intersections Signal timing plan $55,000
Carpool program Matching funds $53,631
U-189, Provo Canyon Incline monitor $50,000
I-15, Provo-Orem Park-and-ride lot $15,001
Total: $24,114,199
Summit County
I-80, Silver Creek-Wanship Pavement $14,800,000
I-80, Coalville-Echo Junction Repairs $8,300,000
I-80, Emory port of entry Surface, facility $2,500,000
U-224 to Park City Preservation $370,000
Lemon Dugway, Oliver Dugdale Develop springs $30,000
Total: $26,000,000
Tooele County
I-80, Grassy Mountain New rest areas $4,000,000
U-36, Tooele-Mills Junction Engineering $500,000
I-80, Wendover port of entry Upgrade $100,000
Total: $4,600,000