The list, prepared for the inaugural meeting of the state Highway Jurisdictional Transfer Task Force, is only preliminary and hasn't been ranked by priority. But it immediately gave heartburn to representatives of the cities, towns and counties that would have to maintain and patrol the former state roadways and intersections.
John Collom, road supervisor for Box Elder County, noted that the 7.39-mile stretch of State Route 42 near the Idaho line that UDOT wants to give the county would require Box Elder workers to drive 50 miles from its sole maintenance shed just to reach it. That makes no sense, he said, since the state has multiple maintenance sheds on the state route.
"These are the highest-cost maintenance roads they are talking about shifting," said Brent Gardner, executive director of the Utah Association of Counties.
In the past, the state Transportation Commission has been in charge of proposing which state roadways ought to be turned over to local control. The proposals, sent to legislative interim committees, have been included in bills lawmakers voted on. But because the issue is so contentious, few roadways actually have been transferred.
Criteria for state highway designation are established by law. They must provide interstate or inter-region traffic movement, connect major population centers and be spaced so that all developed areas of the state are within "reasonable" distance from the highway, said legislative policy analyst Mark Steinagel.
By contrast, local roads are geared more to providing access than movement. If a road is deemed not to meet the state highway criteria, it is either transferred to a municipal agency or abandoned, Steinagel said.
The task force's duty is to determine the amount of funding or other resources that might be transferred along with the road miles as well as the timing of the transfers.
"Funding is where we will be spending the majority of our time," said task force co- Chairwoman Sen. Carlene Walker, the Cottonwood Heights Republican who sponsored the 2005 bill that established the task force.
The panel also has to consider law enforcement costs for patrolling added road miles and whether to turn over title of maintenance sheds and equipment along with the highway.
Seven of the 13 members of the task force are lawmakers: Walker; Ferrin; Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse; Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City; Rep. Craig Buttars, R-Lewiston; Rep. Tim Cosgrove, D-Murray; and Rep. Joseph Murray, R-Ogden. Only they may vote.
The other panelists, appointed by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., are Weber County Commissioner Craig Dearden; Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon; Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn; Ron Whitehead, Washington County public works director; Kenneth Bassett, Vernal city manager; Clyde Naylor, Utah County engineer and surveyor; and UDOT Executive Director John Njord.
Representatives of local governments who attended the meeting at the Capitol expressed worry about the financial effects of taking on former state highways.
Gardner, said the Utah Association of Counties saw the UDOT list of proposed transfers only recently. "We have not had time to review that list or receive any input back from our members," he told the task force.
The counties also want the chance to present to UDOT a list of roadways or segments of roads they believe ought to be handed off to the state.
"This should be a two-way process," Gardner said.
After the meeting, Gardner said the criteria for designating a state road don't always work in rural areas.
"They're focusing on movement. In a rural area, you're not going to have a lot of movement because there's not the population," he said.
