Commuters fretting over whether the much-publicized widening of I-15 will ever begin and if a parallel commuter rail is really going to be realized can take comfort in this fact: The political wheels are in motion.
Even as the state's chief highway administrator on Thursday was pushing lawmakers to pony up $800 million to widen I-15 through Salt Lake County, top brass from the Utah Transit Authority were holding court in downtown Salt Lake City to trumpet their steady progress toward completing the design of a 15-mile stretch of light rail from suburban Sandy into the inner city.Among the questions fielded by UTA publicist Coralie Alder at the light-rail event was: "Is it actually going to happen?"
Alder and a small army of other UTA spin doctors offered the stock "but of course" reply, noting that the Clinton administration has signed off on the mostly federally funded project, even if Congress has yet to appropriate Washington's $200 million-plus lion's share of the cost.
Meantime, Tom Warne, director of the Utah Department of Transportation, was working lawmakers at the Capitol, where he made a no-nonsense pitch for finding a way to foot the cost of widening the state's busiest route from six lanes to 10.
"The Legislature's going to have to deal with it," said Warne, noting that UDOT just days ago announced it could complete the project between 10800 South and 500 North by the fall of 2001 if somebody would just give it the money.
"We have a way to do it, but it's dependent on them raising an appropriate revenue stream by next March, when we would anticipate signing those contracts," said Warne.
Republican leaders in the House responded quickly by showing signs of favoring a massive bond issue to get the work under way. Warne said there was also talk of increasing the state's 19-cent-per-gallon gas tax .
"There's gotta be a certain cash flow . . . everybody (in the Legislature) kind of nods their heads and says they understand," said Warne. "But it's tough. It's a huge issue."
"What we're forcing is a pretty strong commitment as opposed to $100 million here and a $100 million there," he said. "It's an $800 million commitment once we start the project."
Gov. Mike Leavitt's spokeswoman, Vicki Varela, said lawmakers may have to be called into a special session sometime this year to deal with the large bonding package if a tight timeframe won't allow the bond to be passed in the regular 1997 Legislature. The bond won't be considered in the current session, she said.
The figure is a big pill to swallow. Legislators last year patted themselves on the back for granting UDOT an unheard of $55 million windfall to fight growing traffic congestion in Salt Lake County. The money - half of it earmarked for extending the Bangerter Highway to 12600 South, the rest for design and detour construction on the I-15 endeavor - set a record, but was only a fraction of what UDOT needs.
In stark contrast to the transportation tension on the Hill, the mood at UTA's storefront Main Street office was almost sedate, where about 250 business leaders had been invited to view light-rail schematics, which are about 35 percent complete.
UTA wants to start construction on Utah's first commuter train by about this time next year, and Paul N. Bay, the BRW Inc. consultant supervising the project, said engineers expect to have the final design complete by Christmas.
Bay, a veteran of transit-system design in Portland and Houston, said those who doubt the federal government will make good on a "full-funding" agreement it signed last summer with UTA need only consult history.
"In 30 years since they've been doing these (full-funding agreements), they've never not come through on one," said Bay.
At the back of everybody's mind seemed to be the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, which will afford Utah the opportunity to host the world and - transit planners hope - move it smoothly from place to place.
Bay said federal support of light rail was sparked in no small part by the upcoming Games. UTA has made it clear it wants the train up and running before 2001.
UDOT planners were playing the Olympic card too, as evinced by an "I-15 Corridor Update" passed out to key legislators on Thursday, offering maps, charts and a composite photo that showed I-15 graced by a flashing electronic billboard that said, "Olympic Venues Use I-15 Northbound."