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Show ROAD CONSTRUCTION TAKES HEAVY BLOW FROM FUNDS CUT Following is a statement by Weston E. Hamilton of the Utah State Road Commission, on the cutback in Federal highway funds: "The State Road Commission of Utah strongly opposes the cutback in Federal funds available avail-able for highway construction. It is impossible to plan and maintain a consistent program of road construction when financing fi-nancing is tied to a string like a yo-yo. Highway funds can be used only for highway purposes. pur-poses. "This cutback works a particular partic-ular hardship on Utah because we have concentrated, and I think rightly so, on building roads first where they are needed most in urban areas. We were just beginning to see the light of day by being able to begin construction on long sections of the Interstate in rural areas which would add greatly to completed mileage. We are in a transition period gearing future construction for particularly long sections of rural roads. "Announcements of the amount of the cutback are misleading. mis-leading. Actually as far as f ederal aid is concerned Utah may have its potential for new road construction projects reduced re-duced by 30 for calendar year 1967. "By gearing the cutback to obligations made during calendar calen-dar 1967 this in effect freezes unobligated funds which are normally carried over. Due to the complexity of urban construction con-struction it has been extremely difficult to finalize many very important and needed projects. "Of the nearly $80 million in Federal aid funds allocation to Utah and normally available in calendar 1968, the cutback limits lim-its us to $54 million. This amounts to 30 rather than 5 as announced by the Federal Fed-eral Highway Administrator. "We cannot carry out a meaningful road program with this adversity in financing." |