As an avid sportswoman and more recently, Grand County commissioner, I have always aggressively opposed the proposition of the Book Cliffs Highway, (aka I-70 Connection or Eastern Utah Regional Connection) that the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition keeps shoving down our throats.
This is a project that was ill-conceived from its inception, has misused CIB funding, threatens wildlife and ecosystems in their entirety, seeks to destroy a retired couple’s ranch, and attempts to place the financial burden of the highway and its maintenance on not only the tax payers of Grand County, but the entire state.
This highway, as recently stated by the engineering firm hired by the SCIC, would be used as a tourism corridor in which people would move from Yellowstone to the Mighty Five in Southern Utah. It would bypass the existing routes and communities of Roosevelt, Duchesne, Helper, Price, Dinosaur and Rangeley to save — in their estimate, which is considerably higher than the UDOT estimate — 37 minutes.
Thirty-seven minutes in which SCIC seeks to divert tourism from communities attempting to diversify their own economies. Thirty-seven minutes to fracture ecosystems and threaten big game habitat in which deer and elk populations are already struggling. Thirty-seven minutes to run a highway through a ranch buried deep in the recesses of these canyons, owned by hard working retirees hoping to live out their days in solitude. Thirty-seven minutes to spend conservatively $150 million in taxpayer dollars, not to mention the ongoing yearly maintenance.
The Seven County Infrastructure Coalition now encompasses counties of southeastern Utah with one gaping hole, Grand County. Grand County has opposed this highway since the ‘80s and will continue to do so. We do not see the need to threaten wildlife, other rural communities and needlessly spend taxpayer dollars.
Trisha A. Hedin, Grand County Commissioner, Moab