St. George • A recently released environmental study may have signaled the federal government’s intent to revoke approval of the proposed Northern Corridor Highway, but Utah’s elected officials still see a path forward to building the hotly disputed road.
Utah’s Republican governor, Spencer Cox, and members of the state’s all-GOP congressional delegation are criticizing the study, which warned the highway, cutting through Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, north of St. George, would spark more wildfires, spread more invasive weeds, and damage critical habitat or Mojave desert tortoises, along with other endangered species.
Even though they are stewing over the findings, elected officials hope the incoming Trump administration will nix the decision by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and give Utah a second crack at constructing the four-lane highway.
“I look forward to working with the Trump administration to reverse the decision,” Cox stated in a release, “and get the road built.”
Approval of the right of way for the highway was granted in 2021 during the first Trump administration. After a lawsuit by conservation organizations, the project was put on hold pending the outcome of a supplemental environmental impact statement and the Biden administration’s final decision on the proposal.
Now that the verdict is in, the Northern Corridor Highway will officially go away once the federal agencies release their record of decision within the next few weeks.
Highway planners then would have to start over.
War of words
That irks Utah’s congressional cadre.
“Washington County has worked with local and federal stakeholders for many years, in good faith, to minimize the environmental impact of the Northern Corridor,” Sen. Mitt Romney stated in a news release. “This BLM decision again delays completion of this project and ignores the valuable input of the county. It also fails to relieve traffic congestion or provide protections for the desert tortoise. It is time to complete this highway.”
Sen. Mike Lee, Utah’s senior senator and key Trump ally, echoed Romney’s concerns.
“Once again, the Biden administration has chosen to ignore Utah’s needs and the practical benefits of the Northern Corridor alternative, opting for an alternative that will do nothing to alleviate congestion in Washington County,” Lee stated. “This decision is a setback for our communities and regional growth and harmful to prime desert tortoise habitat in Zone 6. I am fully committed to doing whatever it takes to reverse this decision and finally complete the construction of the Northern Corridor.”
Zone 6, which consists of roughly 6,800 acres evenly split between the BLM and the Utah Trust Lands Administration, was set aside on land separate from the rest of the conservation area to offset the impact of the Northern Corridor Highway. Unless approval for the road is reinstated, state officials insist they will be forced to sell the trust lands in Zone 6 to raise money for Utah schools, which could negatively impact desert tortoises and miles of multiple-use trails and rock-climbing features.
As miffed as state and federal officials are over the decision, conservation groups opposed to the road are not moved by their outrage. Rather than fight for an about-face, Conserve Southwest Utah and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance say the county would be better served to reform its transportation and land use strategies.
“If it does not, it dooms current and future generations to a loss of valuable natural resources, long commutes and even more traffic,” officials with both environmental groups stated Monday in a joint release.
Conservationists argue the county’s own traffic study concedes the $200 million Northern Corridor would lead to the largest increase in driving in the area compared to other alternatives. They note that the Red Hills Parkway Expressway, which the federal agencies have now identified as the preferred alternative, would be cheaper, better alleviate traffic congestion and do less environmental damage.
Moreover, they accuse county and state officials of using Zone 6 as a bargaining chip, threatening to sell it off to developers to pressure outdoor enthusiasts to support the Northern Corridor out of fear of losing the Bearclaw Poppy and Zen trails, along with other popular recreation sites in the zone, also known as Moe’s Valley. The decision to sell the land, they add, is in “the hands of the Utah Trust Lands Administration, not conservation groups or the federal government.”
“If the Northern Corridor were approved,” the environmentalists’ joint statement warned, “it would degrade the meaning of protected land and set a dangerous precedent — that Congress can permanently protect federal public lands for conservation purposes only to have these protections scrapped on [a] local whim.”
More roads, more congestion?
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Another spat in the ongoing Northern Corridor road wars is a recent analysis that the Boston-based Speck Dempsey planning group conducted for Conserve Southwest Utah, which found the Northern Corridor Highway would heighten traffic gridlock and contribute to suburban sprawl.
Citing stats from the Dixie Metropolitan Planning Organization and a June 2024 study by Horrocks traffic engineers, highway backers counter the Northern Corridor would reduce traffic delays and cut congestion on St. George streets during peak travel hours by 15%.
But Chris Dempsey, a partner in Speck Dempsey who wrote the traffic analysis, said the Horrocks study is flawed because it doesn’t account for induced demand.
“We’ve seen this … take place around the country,” Dempsey said. “Governments spend tax dollars to expand roads, but that induces people to take more [automobile] trips. They drive more than they did in the past. Even worse, this leads to a sprawling development pattern along the roads, so you get even more drivers … and find you are right back at that congested status quo.”
According to the Speck Dempsey report, for example, the 30 million miles Utahns drove each day in 1982 ballooned to about 94 million miles per day in 2022. In other words, while the population in Utah doubled in 40 years, the amount of driving tripled, and the congestion on the state’s roads continued to get worse despite all the new construction.
Instead of building more roads like the Northern Corridor, Dempsey said the county should increase transit options, and encourage carpooling, telecommuting and flexible work hours. Moreover, according to his report, the county should promote growth patterned after St. George’s traditional street-grid pattern, which disperses trips and provides drivers with more options while also shortening distances for essential services to make walking and biking more viable.
That’s a marked contrast from suburban developments, which contribute to congestion by funneling all cars to regional roads, the report stated. Conserve Southwest Utah officials say it is important to model growth between now and 2060 after St. George.
“If we … [match] downtown St. George’s more traditional density, that growth will require roughly 113 square miles of land,” said Judith Rognli, Conserve Southwest Utah’s desert livability program manager. “If we grow with a more sprawling development pattern … [it] will require roughly 323 square miles of land, which is almost 1½ times the size of Zion National Park.”
Even if one favors building more roads and takes the Horrocks study at face value, Dempsey added, that same study shows the Northern Corridor county officials favor would not move traffic as well as the Red Cliff Parkway Expressway, which would bypass the national conservation area. The previously abandoned option would convert Red Hills Parkway in St. George into an expressway between Interstate 15 and Bluff Street to facilitate better east-west traffic flows in the area.
‘Half-baked’ analysis?
Conversely, Washington County officials, argue Speck Dempsey staff are city planners, not traffic engineers, and are not qualified to analyze traffic. Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke accuses Conserve Southwest Utah of pushing misleading information rather than having a serious conversation and acting in good faith.
“No Utah-licensed engineer would sign off on this type of ‘analysis,’” he wrote in an email, “so they found a Boston planning (not engineering) firm.”
Dixie Metropolitan Planning Organization Director Myron Lee also takes umbrage, saying Conserve Southwest Utah’s analysis “ignores industry standards” and offers unproven opinions that new roads create congestion.
“They want to force people to give up cars and live in high-density urbanized housing within a few blocks of where they work,” Lee stated in an email. “Their controversial concept may work in Boston, but not in Washington County, Utah.”
Environmental scientist William Mader, former administrator of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve that encompasses the national conservation area, maintains otherwise. He compares building the highway through the heart of the reserve to removing a couple of arteries from one’s heart.
“The highway,” Mader said, “will cause irreversible damage, destroying wildlife, [escalating] pollution and increasing the risk of wildfires due to invasive grasses.”
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