Road $$ ready to roll
Utah County projects to precede I-15 makeover
State and federal dollars are expected to fund about $300 million worth of projects over the next four years in the county in anticipation of I-15 reconstruction in 2011.
The state Transportation Commission has been discussing the Utah County projects for the past few months and is expected to approve the state funding at its meeting Wednesday in Salt Lake City.
All of the projects are part of the Mountainland Metropolitan Planning Organization's I-15 reconstruction mitigation plan — a collection of road improvements deemed critical to provide motorists with an alternative to I-15 and keep traffic flowing in Utah County during the reconstruction.
Many of those identified improvements rank fairly low on the Utah Department of Transportation's project priority list, but they've gotten a boost by being attached to the state's No. 1 priority — I-15 reconstruction in Utah County, said J. Kent Millington, one of seven governor-appointed members of the Transportation Commission.
"In support of that project, it's necessary to go way down in the priority list to approve these ancillary roads . . . and the commission is stepping up and doing that," Millington said.
Cook, MAG and the elected county and city government officials who make up the Mountainland MPO deserve much of the credit for that.
In February, Cook presented the list of the projects that need to be completed before I-15 reconstruction. The MPO voted in favor of focusing only on those projects and working toward securing funding.
MAG officials, county commissioners and local mayors met one-on-one with state legislators, UDOT representatives and members of the Transportation Commission to promote the plan.
"We focused our efforts in a very specific way, made that the No. 1 priority and set everything else aside to get that agenda pushed forward," Cook said.
The county greatly helped its cause earlier this month when the MPO voted in favor of recommending that the Utah County Commission put on the ballot in November a quarter-cent sales tax increase for transportation and transit.
Millington said that move demonstrated to the state Transportation Commission that Utah County is serious about addressing its transportation issues.
"That will be well-received as an indication that Utah County is prepared to step up so we have more confidence in putting a couple hundred million dollars over the next four years into road projects in Utah County," he said.
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