An independent soil analysis shows nine Class B roads Uintah County lists as "gravel" on grant-application maps for state and federal funding are actually dirt tracks comprising sand and silt.

The bottom line: Uintah County is collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain gravel roads in eastern Utah that aren't gravel roads. (Dirt roads yield far less money for maintenance.) And now state inspectors want to check the roads themselves.

"We will be looking at some of those roads," said Scott Nay, inventory supervisor for the Utah Department of Transportation. "If we feel like we have found any impropriety, we will look at it more."

For the soil analysis that is triggering the state scrutiny, The Salt Lake Tribune collected 10 random samples from nine Class B roads covering 100 miles in Uintah County. Intermountain Testing Services Inc. then examined the materials.

The Roy company's analysis shows all the surfaces tested fall far short of UDOT's definition for gravel roads.

"These are native silty sands and sandy silts," said Abe Martinez, operations manager for Intermountain Testing. "They deteriorate rapidly, especially when they get wet."

In a March 6 Tribune story, county commissioners categorically denied allegations raised by former county road supervisors that Uintah County was intentionally mislabeling its Class B dirt roads as gravel roads to fatten its coffers.

Confronted with the testing results, however, county officials softened their response.

"It is possible that [mislabeling] has occurred," conceded Jesse Trentadue, Uintah County's Salt Lake City-based attorney. "In fact, there are undoubtedly Uintah County roads designated as 'gravel' that should be classified as 'dirt.' "

But Trentadue suggested any errors would not significantly alter UDOT's funding for the county's Class B roads. Since 1998, the county has received nearly $20 million to keep up its Class B roads.

"To be fair, there are undoubtedly also Uintah County roads currently designated as a dirt road that are really a gravel road," he said. "How is that possible? The answer is simple: Road designation is not an exact science."

But UDOT seeks to limit such misrepresentations with this definition: "A gravel road has an improved surface made of gravel, broken stone, slag, iron ore, shale or other similar material that is coarser than sand."

In addition, the state agency describes the following engineering characteristics of a gravel road:

* "The surface is higher than natural ground adjacent to the road.

* "The surface is slightly crowned to conduct water off the road.

* "Pipe culverts are strategically located to prevent water from traversing road."

A federal lawsuit, filed in June 2002 and unsealed in December 2004, dished out the first dirt on Uintah County's Class B road designations.

Plaintiffs Lonnie Hogan, the county's former road superintendent, and Kathryn Erickson, ex-director of the Uintah Special Service District, allege Uintah County falsely represented its Class B roads to boost funding and then improperly transferred road money into the general fund.

Uintah County officials deny those accusations.

Hogan argues he was fired after complaining about questionable road designations and other irregularities in the county's road programs. In an interview, he said the reclassification of dirt roads to gravel was not an accident.

"They were talking about taking every dirt road they could" to list as gravel, Hogan said. "Even roads across BLM land."

Gil Mitchell, an eastern Utah road contractor, said he was blackballed from Uintah County road projects after he questioned oddities surrounding the road department.

Mitchell points to the period between 2000 and 2002 when Uintah County increased its application for Class B funding of gravel roads. The dramatic change from 532 miles of gravel roads to 762 miles was due to an upgraded GPS system, according to county officials.

"It's a joke," Mitchell said. "Those are all dirt roads. Does the emperor have clothes or not?"

csmart@sltrib.com