The Bureau of Land Management issued a notification on Oct. 3, 2025, outlining its intent to reassess a right-of-way application submitted by the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) for a four-lane highway in Washington County known as the Northern Corridor. This is a tremendous step forward in a political saga that has dragged on for far too long at the expense of transportation needs within the county.
It is time for the federal government to recognize its obligations under the 2009 bipartisan Omnibus Public Lands Management Act (OPLMA) and approve the development of the Northern Corridor. This will not only allow for improved transportation through the county but will also ensure significant conservation gains for the Mojave Desert Tortoise and protect popular recreation areas from further development.
The Northern Corridor was a critical part of the negotiations surrounding OPLMA because Congress was acutely aware that Washington County is a growing area largely landlocked by federal lands. As part of those negotiations, OPLMA implemented a compromise to conserve lands through the designation of 240,000 acres as wilderness, 110,000 acres as national conservation areas, and 166 miles of the Virgin River and its tributaries as wild and scenic rivers. In exchange, Congress directed the Department of the Interior to work with state, county, local and tribal officials to identify a northern transportation route through the county. The BLM failed to take such action until UDOT applied for a right-of-way for the Northern Corridor in 2018. The first Trump administration approved that right-of-way, finally satisfying OPLMA’s mandate.
However, several groups challenged this action in 2021, and Biden Administration officials, unilaterally and without involving state, county or local stakeholders, settled with the project’s opponents rather than defending the agency’s prior decision. Pursuant to that settlement, the BLM issued a Record of Decision on Dec. 19, 2024, terminating UDOT’s right-of-way and endorsing a “Red Hills Parkway Expressway” alternative. This, even though the state has provided ample evidence on multiple occasions of the technical and economic infeasibility of the Red Hills Parkway Expressway.
For instance, development of the Red Hills Parkway Expressway would require the displacement of over 20 operating businesses, some of which are so unique in form and function that relocation would likely be impossible. At a minimum, these displacement costs would be astronomical. Even if it were possible to overcome these economic effects, significant design issues with the Red Hills Parkway Expressway render this alternative technically infeasible.
Finally, revocation of the UDOT right-of-way under the Biden administration resulted in the loss of significant protections for the desert tortoise and put at risk some of Washington County’s most popular recreation areas.
The UDOT right-of-way came with significant mitigation commitments and protections for the Mojave Desert tortoise, including an expansion of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve by 6,813 acres (Zone 6). This expansion area has a higher density of tortoises than the vast majority of protected lands in California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah, and it is home to some of the very best recreational opportunities in the state. Additionally, Washington County has spent over $5 million in mitigation commitments for the Mojave Desert tortoise, including $3.78 million in 2021 alone for land acquisitions within Zone 6. These protections and commitments were contingent on the development of the Northern Corridor, and they would have been lost if not for the Trump Administration’s willingness to revisit the decision.
The state is encouraged by the actions of the BLM and supports their decision to reconsider the UDOT right-of-way. Development of the Northern Corridor is critical for traffic control within the county, provides significant protections for the Mojave Desert tortoise, protects extremely popular recreation areas and will improve air quality throughout the region. The state appreciates this administration’s efforts to comply with its obligations under OPLMA and provide the county and its citizens with a sensible solution to ongoing traffic concerns.