The plan would tap the Centennial Highway Fund for what has become a phased project.

The original $5 billion proposal - which would have rebuilt the freeway between Draper and U.S. 6 in Spanish Fork - was scaled back and now would cover a rebuild between American Fork and Spanish Fork.

Concerns about how such a project would impact the state's constitutional bond limit, and how such an expenditure would impact other big road projects, prompted the pullback.

"It's prudent to pass this resolution tonight to tell UDOT to move forward," said House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy.

Wednesday's vote would give UDOT the go-ahead to begin engineering work starting in July 2009. Bonds would be issued the following year.

Elsewhere, lawmakers reached a deal to that would increase the sales tax on everything but groceries by 0.05 percent to fund health care and roads. The pavement portion would feed $20 million to UDOT to help ease traffic choke points and preserve future road corridors. It means a boost on the state tax rate from 4.65 percent to 4.7 percent.

House Speaker Greg Curtis announced a $60 million donation of land by developers in the southwestern Salt Lake Valley for construction of the proposed Mountain View freeway across their properties.

Lawmakers again rejected a seat-belt bill that would make driving without the restraints a primary offense.

In a bid to enhance access to backcountry roads that rural Utahns would like to claim as local rights of way, the Legislature passed SB181 by Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City. It makes off-highway vehicles street legal on two-lane roads in towns with fewer than 5,000 residents.

Legislators also expanded the membership of the Utah Transit Authority by three and created an internal-auditor position at the transit agency. - Brandon Loomis and Robert Gehrke