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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A bill that paves the way for future traffic corridors by tacking a fee onto automobile registrations lost it's wheels in the Utah Senate Monday.
The bill could collect as much as 40 (M)million dollars which counties could then use to buy undeveloped land and set it aside to build roads and help better manage growth.
The sponsor -- Senator Sheldon Killpack -- says such planning would prevent governments from having to buy out property owners in the future when they want to build a major road through a neighborhood or business corridor.
But opposition to the bill arose when some senators asked why 110 (M)million dollars in existing road funds that the state provides to counties can't be used for that purpose.
Killpack said those funds are earmarked for smaller or secondary roads and cannot be tapped for major traffic corridor development.
The Senate delayed a vote on the bill so that Killpack could rework the bill to address senators' concerns.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
