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IBAPAH, Tooele — The Biden administration approved an $8.3 million grant for Tooele County last week to improve a rural highway that connects the Confederated Tribes of Goshute Reservation with goods, services and schools in Utah and Nevada.
The grant is the last funding piece for the Ibapah Road Safety and Rehabilitation Project, which aims to decrease crash rates and improve travel times and road safety along 35 miles of Ibapah Road. The project will include repaving, shoulder widening and new guardrails.
The rural highway is the only paved north-south road connecting the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation with West Wendover, Nevada, and Wendover, Utah. Although those cities are 60 miles away from many reservation residents, they are the closest location for a number of essential goods and services. Ibapah Road was originally paved in 1975 and has only had minor repairs since.
"The road is in poor condition," said Brittany Lopez, Tooele County assistant manager. "The road is in a remote corner of the county and is beyond repair with typical maintenance practices."
The road improvements are estimated to cost $17 million to $20 million. The federal government is footing 90% of the bill through two federal grants and one earmark from Rep. Chris Stewart, while the county will pay for the additional 10%. The Utah Department of Transportation will manage the funding.
The $8.3 million federal grant was among $130 million approved by the Department of Transportation for seven transportation projects on federal and tribal lands across the country.
"Under President (Joe) Biden's leadership, we are delivering infrastructure improvements on federal and tribal lands that communities have needed for decades," U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. "With today's announcement, we're making it easier for Americans to access some of our greatest natural wonders, and improving road safety in tribal communities, which face some of the highest rates of traffic deaths in the nation."
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