The money will allow sponsoring travel organizations to dispense more information about their roadways, deemed special because of the picturesque terrain they traverse and their accompanying prehistoric, historic or cultural features.

Federal funding also can be used to carry out details of "corridor management plans" the sponsoring agencies submitted in their pursuit of scenic byway status. It also can be spent on safety improvements.

"We received more funding this year than in any year since the program started," said Stacey Clark, the Utah Office of Tourism's acting scenic byways coordinator, noting that 11 of 13 Utah applications received funding.

Two projects along the Huntington/Eccles Canyons byway in east-central Utah pulled down the largest share - $355,400.

The Western Mining & Railroad Museum will receive $100,000 that will go toward a $1.2 million project to upgrade its four-story home in Helper.

Director SueAnn Martell said the Federal Highway Administration grant will enable the museum - which has raised $800,000 in the past five years - to install an elevator that will allow use of all four stories of its building, which dates to 1914.

"We want to keep that historic building, but want people to access all four floors. . . . Our museum now is full to the brim [on one floor], and we have as much material in storage as we have on display. We also have a hard time getting exhibit cases up the steep stairs," she said, noting that interior hallways will be widened for wheelchair access.

In addition, climate controls must be upgraded. The Utah State Archives has designated the building as a regional repository, which means it will store volumes of official records from Carbon and Emery County communities, along with nearly 6,000 photos and other artifacts of the area's coal mining and railroad operations.

"We're at either the beginning or the end of the scenic byway," said Martell, "so this will give visitors a better understanding of the energy loop and the railroads that carried coal."

The Castle Country Travel Region will use the remaining $255,400 to double the size of a parking lot atop Fairview Canyon, and to build a 1-acre lot near Beaver Ridge Dam in Huntington Canyon. Both are popular winter recreation sites for snowmobilers and snowkiters, many of whom have been forced to park along the roadside.

"It's a safety situation for people crossing from one side of the road to the other," said Castle Country byways coordinator Jana Abrams. "We hope to apply for more money to expand again or add a new parking lot because there's a lot of traffic there for winter sports."

Safety also featured prominently in a $174,500 allocation for a culvert where Cart Creek passes beneath U.S. 191, 26 miles north of Vernal on the way to Flaming Gorge. A 2004 study by the Utah Department of Transportation showed that 1,460 vehicles cross that creek on an average day.

History also will be served with this year's cash infusion.

Garfield County Travel Council will receive $21,748 to develop an online virtual tour of Utah Highway 143 between Panguitch and Parowan, nicknamed the "Patchwork Parkway" because early Mormon pioneers often had to travel that route by walking atop patchwork quilts thrown down on the snow-covered road.

Along the Logan Canyon National Scenic Byway, $23,357 will be used to determine what is needed to retrofit an amphitheater, built in the 1930s with Civilian Conservation Corps labor.

"The amphitheater needs a little refurbishment," said Logan Canyon byway coordinator Richard Justis. "Not much work has been done on it in 70 years."

mikeg@sltrib.com