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LAYTON -- As the 2009 road construction season wraps up, the project landscape looks a lot different from what was originally planned.
In November 2008, several Top of Utah road projects were put on indefinite hiatus because of statewide funding uncertainties.
The hiatus ended with President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package.
Utah received $213 million -- to be used on state and local transportation projects -- as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the federal government's economic stimulus plan.
The federal funds are being used on 104 pavement preservation, bridge rehabilitation and capacity improvement projects statewide that would not have been completed without the stimulus funding.
UDOT Region One spokesman Vic Saunders said the goal was to spread the projects throughout all corners of the state, and rapidly use the funds to provide jobs throughout local communities and repair and replace roads and bridges in critical need.
"It has had an impact on the local economies, and we are proud of that," Saunders said. "In the Weber and Davis county area, there were only two big reconstruction projects included in the package and the rest were mostly maintenance projects that could begin immediately and put people to work."
Saunders said as of Oct. 8, 96 percent of the state's ARRA-funded projects had been obligated. Of those projects, 27 percent of them have already been completed.
"We had the projects ready to go before we submitted our list (for stimulus money)," he said. "The money we asked for actually far exceeded the money we received."
In Weber County, six road projects have been funded with stimulus money, totaling $10.64 million.
At a Wasatch Front Regional Council meeting last month, UDOT engineer Kevin Griffin said the Ogden area, with pavement improvements to Wall Avenue and Washington Boulevard, benefited greatly from the stimulus money.
"We took a fairly aggressive approach," he said. "Ogden has had a lot of construction recently, but soon that area will be set for a while."
In Davis County, seven projects were funded with $26.3 million total stimulus dollars, including two major reconstruction projects. Syracuse Road will be widened to five lanes from 1000 West to 2000 West, as will 500 South in West Bountiful and Woods Cross.
