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1 Comment [ View ]State roads won't roll / Shrinking revenues force UDOT to put 50 projects on hold, including South Layton's
PDF: UDOT Construction Projects on HoldLAYTON -- More than 50 state road projects will be put on hold in the face of a worldwide and statewide economic downturn, the Utah Department of Transportation announced on Thursday.
UDOT Executive Director John Njord said the projects account for about $3 billion of the agency's current spending budget.
"We got word from the governor's office that revenues haven't been what we expected them to be," Njord said. "Everyone is suffering from the current economic climate, and we are no different."
The biggest casualties in the Top of Utah include the South Layton Interchange project, the upgrading of State Route 108 and the North Legacy Highway extension study.
Just last week, UDOT had confirmed that construction on the $68 million South Layton Interchange project was expected to begin in May 2009. The new interchange, via 750 South, an east-west route, would have connected Interstate 15 with the future Legacy Parkway extension project.
The interchange and a $20 million study dedicated to the parkway extension have both been scrapped for the foreseeable future.
"It's devastating to us," Layton Councilman Michael Bouwhuis said.
Because the news has caught the city off guard, he said, the city does not have a gameplan response.
"We were told this was a high priority for the state," he said of the road project.
"My initial reaction is that it is terrible news," Layton Councilman Scott Freitag said.
The city needs the interchange to alleviate its traffic congestion, Freitag said, and to help revitalize its old downtown.
"It is a double whammy," he said.
Without the interchange, it will be difficult to redevelop old downtown, creating a domino effect on the community's economic base, Freitag said.
'Choke point'
The interchange is also needed to address what has become a new "choke point" along the Interstate 15 corridor, near the south end of Layton where the state recently completed the I-15 Davis Lane Gain project.
"We have got a compounding problem now as the lane goes away from that spot," Freitag said. He said he was especially surprised the state has put the project on hold when it was just last week that the state announced construction on the project was to begin in May.
One other project the South Layton Interchange will impact is the nearby Fort Lane Village, a 26-acre commercial development.
"A lot of the development of Fort Lane Village was being looked at with the interchange being put in," Freitag said.
Given the economic uncertainty and declining revenues in the transportation fund and general fund, UDOT has no choice but to put these projects on hold until the Legislature meets in January, said Rep. Kevin Garn, R-Layton.
The Layton businessman is also a landowner in the Fort Lane Village project to be developed at Fort Lane and Gentile Street.
Garn said the hold on the interchange will also detain the planned commercial development. "Everything is on hold."
But hopefully, not indefinitely.
"It's just on hold until the Legislature meets in January," Garn said.
The S.R. 108 project has already been altered once due to a lack of funds.
In September, UDOT revealed that because federal funding was low, S.R. 108, also known as Midland Drive and 3500 West in Weber County and 2000 West or Two-Mile Road in Davis County, would not expand to five lanes as originally planned. However, the plan to create wider turn lanes at intersections was still moving forward.
"My initial gut reaction is disappointment because it's such an important corridor," said West Point Mayor John Petroff. "But I also appreciate the fact UDOT is trying to be fiscally responsible. I would rather them be careful than get into a mess financially."
S.R. 108 is one of the primary north-south transportation corridors in the western portion of the two counties and travels through West Haven, Roy, Clinton, West Point and Syracuse. It is a two-lane road in most areas.
UDOT officials say expanding the road to five lanes would have accommodated its projected capacity needs through the year 2035, but adding width in some areas to accommodate the turn lanes and restriping the road in wider areas would have made the road functional for about another decade.
Now, UDOT officials have no timeline for when the work could begin.
Sales tax lacking
"All of the revenues that we anticipated for these projects came from sales tax," said Njord. "And that money is just not there right now."
Njord said the action allows UDOT flexibility to finish existing projects while continuing to work with the Governor's office and the Legislature to evaluate what the anticipated reduction in revenue will mean to future projects.
Njord said he couldn't forecast when funds would be stable enough to resume work on the suspended projects
"If I could predict that, I would be working in the White House right now," he said.
Njord said the decision won't affect projects currently under a construction contract. UDOT has 178 projects under way worth an estimated $2 billion, and those will continue.
"All of the projects that are currently under contract will be completed," said Njord. "But we have to continue to be prudent and slow down our expenditures."
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OMG, when detroit makes all them new cars with that 50 billion they need so bad, we wont have these new better roads to drive on!!! Boy these really are tough times! Just when we bail out that insurance company...IGA...and workin on that 500 billion for them poor car companys, and gas back down under two buck a gal, we run outa road!! Well #*&! me! We all know this country is going nowhere fast, now we dont even have enuff roads to get us there any #*&!ing way!
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