This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Moving the Utah State Prison could create some expensive new highway needs for a small city near the current prison and for another county that is an unwilling finalist for the relocated facility.
Both Bluffdale and Tooele County are asking the state to take over two separate local road projects that they say may be needed more quickly and become more expensive because of the potential prison move.
The state Transportation Commission in turn has asked the Utah Department of Transportation to study the proposals, and report back in a few months.
Bluffdale asked the commission last week to consider taking over Porter Rockwell Boulevard, envisioned as a major east-west route between the 14600 South exit off Interstate 15 — adjacent to the current prison — to Redwood Road and the Mountain View Corridor. The prison is just over Bluffdale's border in Draper.
Bluffdale Mayor Derk Timothy said with major new development expected in the area, which could be even greater if the prison leaves, both his city and UDOT figure that new highway needs to be seven lanes instead of the five initially predicted.
Portions of the road have been built and were constructed to UDOT standards to possibly allow the state to take over operation and maintenance, Timothy said.
However, a bridge over the Jordan River could cost $30 million to $40 million. That's too expensive for the small city, population 8,400, with an annual budget of about $5 million a year, said Greg Curtis, a former Utah House speaker and current lobbyist working with the city as a consultant.
Timothy said the city already has purchased about 70 percent of the right of way needed to complete the road. He said it has been planning to limit local access points to the road to help ensure it would be more of a regional highway likely to be taken over by the state.
UDOT Executive Director Carlos Braceras said that, as ordered by the transportation commission, his agency will review whether and how it makes sense for UDOT to participate in that project — or if it makes more sense for the state to put money in other regional undertakings proposed in the general area.
Meanwhile, Tooele County also asked the commission to give higher priority to funding the long-planned Midvalley Highway there.
It would be a north-south route — with a new interchange on Interstate 80 — parallel to State Road 36, which now runs from Tooele to Lakepoint Junction. The new highway would run south directly toward the Miller Motorsports Park raceway and an industrial park on part of the old Tooele Army Depot.
Tooele County Commissioner Wade Bitner said it is needed mainly to relieve deadly congestion at Lakepoint Junction and on SR-36. He said it would also help attract new companies, noting several major firms recently declined to move to the county because of poor freeway access.
But if the prison moves there — which the county opposes — it would make the need for the highway even more acute, said Tooele County Commissioner Shawn Milne.
He said the county has told the Prison Relocation Commission "that there would need to be some additional concessions if the prison is forced upon us," such as helping to build that long-sought road.
Still, Milne said, "our communities have made crystal clear that we are not in an accepting mood for that kind of facility."
Bitner said the road is needed soon, regardless of whether the prison comes, and asked the commission to move it up on funding priority lists. The commission instead asked UDOT to look at possible ways to partner with the county or build it in phases to lower its projected $345 million price tag for full construction.
UDOT said it would look at, for example, tapping state funding for a new I-80 interchange and having the county build an initial, partial first-phase to provide some congestion relief from Lakepoint Junction. That could lower initial costs to about $67 million.