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Leaders of the Utah Department of Transportation announced today that dozens of planned road projects are being stopped, for now. The reason is both simple and painful: tax revenues are down.
In a state where the go-go economy has been symbolized by near-constant construction and roadway expansion for years, today's news is a signal of a big change.
"The department of transportation has asked that our region offices, our project managers, put on hold all projects that are currently not under construction and are funded with general fund. We think that's between 40 and 50 projects statewide," explained Carlos Braceras, UDOT's deputy director.
Those dozens of projects total more than $3 billion in state spending; that's about 65 percent of the transportation agency's capital budget.
Those halted were already in the planning pipeline, but for now will be put on hold, at least until revenues improve.
On that list: a massive 20-mile, $2 billion expansion of I-15 in Utah County, the Mountain View Corridor project, work on state Route 201, as well as state Route 92 and the Vineyard Connector in Utah County.
"At worst, we may be looking at actually stopping work on and progressing any of those projects. So today we're calling it a ‘hold' because we feel it's the responsible thing to do. But we could be, after the legislative session, canceling some projects. That's an outside possibility," Braceras said.
On the other hand, 178 projects that are already under construction or under contract will move ahead as planned. Some of those include the expansion of I-80 and the interchange at 11400 South and I-15.
Transportation planners say they want to give lawmakers the chance to prioritize which projects need future funding the most.
"We're putting them on hold until we get to the legislative session to be able to give our elected officials the opportunity to able to look to make choices, because they're going to have to make choices between all different types of priorities between transportation and other issues statewide," Braceras said.
It's the state revenue picture that's driving all of this. If you compare the first four months of the fiscal year in 2008 versus 2007, general tax revenues for the state are down $120 million.
Braceras says there are talks in Washington about making more federal money available for infrastructure projects as part of an economic stimulus package.
Regardless, state law mandates a balanced budget. So, when income is down, there's nothing to do but cut spending.
E-mail: jdaley@ksl.com
E-mail: mgiauque@ksl.com
