The Utah Transportation Commission gave the go-ahead Thursday to a proposed reconstruction of the I-80 interchange at 5600 West and the widening of a one-mile portion of 5600 West.
The $6 million project is needed for a planned $250 million regional shopping mall near Salt Lake City International Airport.
But developers of the proposed Grand Mall face other obstacles before their project, given a boost by the Utah Legislature earlier this year, can go forward.
They still need approval from the Salt Lake City Council and face a possible lengthy delay if the project is not under way by next January when Salt Lake County no longer conforms to federal clean-air standards. At that time Utah's decade-old compliance plan for PM-10 or fine particulate pollution will be outdated and the state will no longer be able to demonstrate compliance with federal standards.
"We should alert the commission that there are some concerns with how the project will progress with Salt Lake City," said Craig Peterson, a former state senator who is now a consultant on the project for developers KFR Properties and Forest City Enterprises. "We do want to make sure we have a few more of our issues resolved" with the city.
UDOT Executive Director Tom Warne, concerned about how the air-quality conformity issue will affect a number of projects, asked Peterson if construction of the Grand Mall would go forward even if reconstruction of the interchange and widening of 5600 West are postponed or substantially delayed. "The traffic numbers would make that very difficult, director," Peterson told Warne. "I think that would be a significant concern.
"We would take some pretty deep breaths. It would create some issues to the department as well as the developer."
Thursday's commission approval gives UDOT staff the ability to proceed with required public notifications about the project and allows the engineering firm of H.W. Lochner to begin design work.
The project ultimately must be added to the annual Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, which would require further commission approval, before work can begin. The developers and UDOT also are close to signing an agreement that spells out procedures to be followed on the project.
Peterson said the developer expects a City Council committee to make a recommendation to the full council concerning the project by the first week of May.
Commission Chairman Glen Brown noted that if the project costs more than estimated, the developer would be responsible for the additional costs.
The road project, which is opposed by Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, was made possible by a bill pushed through the state Legislature in the final hour of the session in March. Senate President Lane Beattie, R-West Bountiful, sponsored a bill allowing UDOT to borrow $6 million and have the money — up to $8.9 million for principal and interest — repaid from the state's share of sales tax revenue generated by the mall's construction and purchases made at the mall.
You can reach Zack Van Eyck by e-mail at zman@desnews.com