This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Transportation debates this year veered into a big funding cut for road projects, and detoured into failed attacks on transit and an infamous "speed trap."
Lawmakers approved transferring what is estimated at nearly a half-billion dollars out of state road projects over the next 11 years. Roughly half of that will go to water projects, and the other half is targeted for education.
Critics complained because the shift followed on the heels of a 5-cent-per-gallon state gasoline tax hike imposed amid claims that transportation needs were critical.
The Utah Department of Transportation said the transfer will not hurt any currently programmed projects. But it could delay planned, future projects that now lack firm start dates.
Meanwhile, legislators killed legislation that would have altered proposals like Proposition 1 last year — which required that 40 percent of money from voter-approved sales tax increases go to mass transit. The failed bill would have allowed ballot propositions in which counties could put all or most new sales-tax revenue into local roads.
Meanwhile, Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, attacked a "speed trap" in Mantua at the bottom of Sardine Canyon. That town earns 39 percent of its revenue from speeding tickets, and Hillyard tried to limit it to 25 percent.
A House committee killed it as undue interference with local law enforcement.