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Show Lack of transportation may cause By CALEB WARNOCK Utah County Staff ,i Utah Valley residents t should brace themselves for ' a Los Angeles-like "land- scape,, ol Interstate congestion on 15 in less than seven years, according to the director of a countywide inter-government group. Darrell Cook, executive director of the Mountain-land Mountain-land Association of Governments, Govern-ments, is warning anyone who will listen that freeway congestion will become a way of life in Utah County unless the state finds a way to pay for improvements to the freeway. The Utah Legislature's recent decision to take money irom tne states transportation fund will be j devastating, according to Cook, who says that unless two more lanes in each direction are added to 1-15 by 2010, the freeway will fail. That means frequent stop-and-go traffic and speeds 25 percent of the legal limit will be the norm. "It is recommended that we do reconstruction down to University Parkway in Orem, but the Legislature has earmarked no funding," he said. By the end of the recent Legislative session, the state's transportation fund had been reduced by $90 million annually leaving insufficient funds to cover debt payments on existing bonds from projects already built, Cook said. Because of that, bond payments that had been scheduled to end in 2007 - freeing up the state to bond for more improvements will now be continued until 2017. Until then, no new bonding is likely. The Legislature did agree to convene a special task force to examine funding fund-ing shortfalls and their effect on the future of transportation. trans-portation. "They are going to look at funding alternatives and Utah Press Assoc. honors Parkinson By Cathy Allred Utah Press Association last weekend gave its 2003 Master Editor and Publisher Publish-er Award to Kirk Parkinson, longtime publisher of The Daily Herald. The award, the highest tribute the association bestows on its professional colleagues, was made at the association's annual convention con-vention in Mesquite, Nev. Parkinson, publisher of the Herald for 16 years and currently vice president in charge' of acquisitions and business development, serves as publisher of all weekly newspapers in Utah County owned by Pulitzer Newspapers Inc., which also owns the Herald. Weekly Week-ly newspapers include the New Utah group in northern north-ern Utah County, the Orem-Geneva Orem-Geneva Times and the Spanish Fork Press. "Kirk has demonstrated Call 756-7669 to place a classified HAL BUT ; FishChipsj ;: PHONE ORDERS WELCOME! iTTOffSfiPSm :-- 492 Qrdlt crda gladly acceptod. freeway congestion make recommendations," Cook said. "It is our hope that we can get Utah Coun- ty 1-15 reconstruction onto the funding radar screen and into some future fund ing package that will make i improvements a reality .within a reasonable time i frame." 5 Since 1990, Utah County has v seen a 57 percent increased in population growth, adding considerably consider-ably to the strain on a freeway free-way system built in the 1960s. The county is projected pro-jected 'to grow another 86 percent in the next three decades. As growth happens, the freeway which is Utah County's major thorough- fare for inter-county travel will function less and less efficiently, Cook said. "In the last 10 years we've put more average daily traffic on that freeway than we did in the previous three decades combined," Cook said. "The carrying capacity of the freeway is 120,000 cars on a daily basis. We are teetering right on the edge of that." Mountainland statistics show some portions of the freeway, such as segments between American Fork and Provo, may be only two to three years from failure, lb keep gridlock and stopped traffic from becoming an everyday occurrence, three phases of improvements must be made, Cook said. Phase one would add two lanes each direction from Sandy to Orem in the next seven years; phase two, spanning 2011-2020, would add one lane each way from Orem to Spanish Fork; phase three, from 2021-2030, 2021-2030, would add one lane each way. from Spanish Fork to the south county border, according to Shawn Seager, senior planner at Mountainland. All told, the three phases will cost $1.6 billion, he said. According to the Legisla- year after year his commitment commit-ment to Utah County's prosperity and future growth," senior vice president presi-dent of Pulitzer Newspapers, Newspa-pers, Inc. Mark Contreras said. "It is because of Kirk's deep knowledge of Utah County that we have been able to expand our presence and we're deeply indebted." Parkinson's accomplishments accomplish-ments at the Daily Herald highlighted in the award citation include overseeing the newspaper's transition from a six-day to a seven-day seven-day edition, the shift from afternoon to morning delivery, deliv-ery, and doubling the size of the Herald's building. Parkinson has been a member of the Provo Rotary Club for 23 years, where he is a past president and a Paul Harris Fellow. He has been re-elected more than once as the Provo-Orem Chamber of Commerce 580 E. State Rd. Am. Fork funding cr: ture's timetable, however, funding for phase one will not be available until 2020 -- 10 years alter the freeway fails, Cook said. Phases two and three face similar ; delays i . - Even if the phases were ' built on fMountainland's moreaccelerated timetable, the freeway would fail anyway any-way unless a $294 million commuter rail system is built by 2020 and a new highway goes in west of Utah Lakeata cost of $250 million, Cook said. Before either 1-15 reconstruction recon-struction r a west-lake highway can be built, extensive exten-sive environmental impact studies will be required for each, showing wildlife habi- tat will not fre harmed The eood news is that funding for both studies -about $10 million-$14 million mil-lion - has been set aside, and work on both will begin within weeks. "We expect each to take three to five years before anything can get moving. We have to get those done," Cook said. Utah County receives approximately $30 million annually from the state in the form of gasoline taxes, Cook said, but the total is only enough to maintain and add to either intercity roads or the freeway - but not both. "We could put every resource into 1-15 and let the roads in the cities go to pot, or we could force all the attention to the issue of one interstate road," Cook said. "We went that way because it is much easier to draw attention to a road that is important to everybody in the state of Utah. "This is Utah's problem, not just Utah County's problem." The county's transportation transporta-tion budget assumes a 5-cent 5-cent increase in the state gasoline tax every six years for the next 30 years; it also assumes existing state and federal funds will grow at Kirk Parkinson director, has been the United Unit-ed Way chair, and has been the director of the Provo Foundation and vice president presi-dent for membership of the Utah National Parks Council Coun-cil of Boy Scouting. He has also been a board director of the Utah Press Association since 1999. "He is one of our industry's indus-try's true gentlemen and we're delighted he w.as chosen cho-sen to receive this honor," Contreras said. "On behalf of all of his " collegues at Pulitzer we salute Kirk for. this honor." . ad in New Utah ( .""iff . It Wed. 8pm to dose. Friday 9:30pm to dose, & Saturday 8pm to close. . Gnat musk, caff in request line, super sound system, glow in the dark lighting. .-." .- f - ,p cSS , M j v ' s j 1! Photo by Don Lund Darrell Cook, executive director of the Mountainland Association of Governments says freeway congestion will become a way of life in Utah County unless the state finds a way to pay for impro jemertttto the freeway. about 3 percent a year. But ' muter rail and road it may not represent any new money. "That is about a rate that will offset inflation, so we are basically flat in new revenues," Cook said. Additionally, he warned that gas tax funding may decrease as consumers buy more fuel-efficient vehicles. Funds will also be drained as federal transportation grants require increasingly more local matching money. And the longer 1-15 reconstruction is delayed, the more expensive it will get, Cook said. Using Mountainland's preferred timetable, 1-15 reconstruction will cost $1.6 billion in today's dollars. Delaying by a decade will increase the cost by an additional addi-tional $1 billion, he said. The outlook also assumes Utah County residents will approve a quarter-cent sales tax increase on the ballot in 2004, which will bring in an estimated $10 million annually for com- New Utah captures state recognition, award New Utah staff members came away with several state awards for excellence in journalism, presented Saturday during the Utah Press Association convention. conven-tion. A sports photograph of a Lehi High School football game took first place in its division, while the five-newspaper five-newspaper group also received first for the design and layout of its classified advertising pages. "It's a great shot," said the judges about Scott Mackintosh's Mackin-tosh's photograph. Beky Beaton took a second sec-ond place for the editorial she wrote about school board election boundaries. Judges said "solid opinion, good emotion." Missionary reunion set for April 4 There will be a reunion for missionaries from the Texas Mission from 1967-1970 1967-1970 under President Elliot C. Howe on April 4 at the Taylorsville North Stake Center, 1250 W. Atherton Drive, Taylorsville. (Go off I- f s f . improvements. Rep. Brad Winn, R-Pleas-ant Grove, said budget constraints con-straints forced cuts to be made in transportation funding - and he acknowledged acknowl-edged the future of transportation trans-portation in Utah County looks bleak. "What do we do? That is the big, unanswered, $1.6 billion question," he skid. "If : we are going to look at tax increases, we ought to look at those who use the roads by taxing gasoline and auto-related auto-related things." Utah County Commissioner Commis-sioner Gary Herbert called Utah Valley's transportation transporta-tion challenges "staggering." "As our transportation goes, so will go our economic econom-ic development," he said. "They are tied together. We are not going to be able to have continued job creation and development if we can't get across the county." Caleb Warnock can be reached at 344-2543 or cwarnockheraldextra.com. A feature story about a local Muslim family also captured a second. Photographs from the Olympic torch run formed the basis for an award-winning photo page, which received second place. "Good main art, good close-up," said the judges. In the editor's column competition, Barbara Christiansen Chris-tiansen earned third place honors for a trio of columns. "Solid work," said the judges. Advertising also received recognition as the judges award a second place for a series of ads from Gunther's Comfort Air. New Utah competes in the category with the largest non-daily newspapers in the state. 15 at 4500 South and go west to approximately 1100 West and Atherton Drive.) Refreshments will be served at 6 p.m., with a program pro-gram at 7:15. Anyone desiring desir-ing further information may call 801-266-0915. SAVE $$ STEEL TtK Closeouts - Limited Supply! 3 Wkto 8.,,0',1J',14',16',20' length, 37 q, ft, ' Whits, Charcoal, Dark Brown, U. Gray Cwtom lenpffu Cuitom Sizet Ask about igec'oi on other colors Call f rf l" StocVFrfcV H itll Inplft 4403 or before mm m -ecz- ttJlk?tr 7683332 HET New Utah - Thursday, March 27, 2003 - Page 1 1 IHC offers on-line registration IHC Hospitals in Utah County have recently launched an innovative online on-line surgery pre-registra-tion site that will allow patients to complete their history information on-line. This has been in the works for the past year and was launched Monday, Feb. 24. "Patients may visit the web site and obtain information infor-mation when they want it. They'll have time to understand under-stand and complete the forms in their own home without being rushed prior to surgery. The on-line version ver-sion is easy to navigate and easy to use," according to Administrative Director of Surgical Services Carol Hadlock. The on-line registration will save patients time. They won't need to come in and talk to nurses the day before surgery unless lab work is needed. This surgical surgi-cal service web site can be accessed through the Internet Inter-net at www.ihc.comsurgery. ' t)nce on the IHC web site, patients need to select the hospital where they're scheduled for surgery. Then patients may choose one pf the following: Our Facility, Before Surgery, Day of Surgery, After Surgery, Billing Information and contact con-tact numbers In the "Before Surgery" section, patients will find information regarding registration reg-istration as well as commonly com-monly asked questions such as "How is my surgery scheduled? Why can't I have anything to eat or drink? What should I bring with me?" The on-line medical history his-tory form is also available. It allows patients to answer questions at their pace before surgery. Upon completion, com-pletion, the form is automatically auto-matically faxed to the Surgical Surgi-cal Center where the patient is scheduled for surgery. sur-gery. This allows IHC personnel per-sonnel to know the patients better and helps them provide pro-vide more individualized care. In the "Day of Surgery" section, patients will learn what to expect during their stay. It gives information about pain control; medication medica-tion pain relief and non-medication non-medication pain relief and explains how to rate the perception pain on a scale from 1 to 10. In the "After Surgery" section, there is information about how patients can take care of themselves at home and what number to call if they have any questions. "We have been working hard at streamlining this process and feel this will meet the needs of our patients by educating them and providing a smooth surgical sur-gical experience," said Hadlock. Had-lock. "This new process provides pro-vides our patients the latest in technology and allows our patients the convenience conven-ience of filling out forms right from their homes." ROOFINGSIDING laMWIM I VI I V. ItVVU., LI. I II 31 COPY' HiJi, KIIU AMD MOM |
