That means UDOT won't come close to achieving the savings it had hoped for, and could even come out a little behind if a proposal to reallocate transportation funds results in local governments getting more than the 25 percent of the total they currently receive.
Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Cottonwood Heights, who co-chairs the Highway Jurisdictional Transfer Task Force, said Tuesday she would craft a bill that would require the state Transportation Commission to report annually which roads the state would like to hand off to local governments. The local governments in turn would be allowed to respond, and could proffer their roads for state takeover, she said.
Walker's announcement during a task force meeting at the Capitol came after a report from UDOT on the agency's estimated costs for maintaining and improving 508 miles of road considered the top candidates for transfer.
The task force also heard a proposal from the Utah League of Cities and Towns, whose members tentatively agreed to assume control of 109 miles of those roads if the local governments' concerns regarding funding and ownership of the roads could be satisfied.
UDOT estimated the 508 miles of road cost the state $2.6 million each year to maintain, and calculated an additional $3 million in one-time improvements.
The League of Cities and Towns' proposal would accommodate $692,000 of the annual costs. The Utah Association of Counties previously proposed taking over 127 miles of highway, with an estimated $473,000 in annual costs. There was some overlap in the two lists.
The task force must decide how much funding or other resources might be transferred along with the road miles. A series of meetings held two weeks ago was supposed to bring all sides closer to agreement.
Key to those discussions was an understanding of how much money UDOT spends on the roads and what portion of the cost the agency would be willing to share with the local governments. UDOT did not detail its costs until Tuesday.
But no matter who funds the roads, "we don't have enough money," Walker said.
The panel will take up the funding formula at its Aug. 30 meeting.
