New federal conformity guidelines for air pollution, which take effect in January, could cause some Utah Department of Transportation projects in Salt Lake County and Ogden to be delayed.
But local transportation officials will not allow the Salt Lake/Ogden area to fall into non-conformity with the clean air standards, they promised the Utah Transportation Commission on Friday.
"We are not going to lapse," said Doug Hattery, a transportation engineer with the Wasatch Front Regional Council. "We're still going to be able to do the projects on the STIP," UDOT's Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.
However, all Salt Lake County/Ogden projects slated for 2004 and 2005 that increase the capacity of a given road will effectively be frozen on Jan. 29. That is, the projects can move forward as now planned, but any additions, changes or adjustments to those projects could not be made.
And adding new capacity-increasing projects to the STIP during 2004 and 2005 — something the Transportation Commission typically does during the year as certain needs come up — will not be allowed, either.
That's because the air emissions model, used to determine what constitutes air pollution and how much of it is coming from Utah roads, has changed. The new formula goes into effect Jan. 29, when a two-year grace period ends. But because all of UDOT's 2004-2005 projects were assessed using the old model, any changes would be inconsistent with the new model and are thus not permitted.
"We really don't have the ability to do conformity analysis after that January date," confirmed UDOT program development director Max Ditlevsen.
"It could possibly cause some delays in our ability to move forward with our transportation program."
But it will not cause a total ban on capacity-improvement projects, as was the case in Utah County in 2001 and 2002, Hattery and others promised. And the problem is only a temporary one, which will be alleviated in part by new emissions devices and standards coming from the auto industry.
"There's a lot of things coming, improvements in vehicles . . . so that in out years, this should diminish," said David Gibbs, Utah division administrator for the Federal Highway Administration. "But for three to five years, it will be tough."
"We think by 2006 we will be able to show conformity," Hattery said.
Maintenance projects and other enhancements that do not create more room for vehicles on a roadway are not subject to the restriction.
Commissioner Stephen Bodily, for one, found the current predicament a bit puzzling. If UDOT can't widen highways, then congestion will increase and more pollution will be created, he noted.
"An idling car is creating more emissions than one moving along at its rated speed," he said. "It's difficult for me to see how we can work out of it."
The key, according to UDOT staffers, is working with the Utah Division of Air Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency to make sure everyone is on the same page with the new standards. It shouldn't take more than two years to update the state's program and create new emissions guidelines, they said.
That's the type of cooperation and attitude Commissioner Hal Clyde said he wants to see.
"When we start to get up against these deadlines, some people say 'We're not going to do that,' " Clyde said. "I think we have to be careful we don't find ourselves in that mode so that we're adversarial."
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