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Show Plan Safeguarding Of Highway Funds To prevent the loss to Utah of millions of dollars in federal highway high-way funds under the new federal highway bill of Congressman J. Will Robinson, the Associated Civic Clubs of Southern Utah has joined join-ed with a similar organization of northern Utah in a fight to protect pro-tect the highways. Dr. F. R. King of Price, president presi-dent of the southern Utah organization, organi-zation, and J. dlex Bachman of Ogden, president of the northern Utah group, through secretaries Tom Jensen of Manti and Charles W. 'Goodliffe of Brigham City, have tentatively approved legislation legisla-tion to be introduced in the coming session of the Utah legislature, which will make impossible the diversion di-version of gasoline taxes to purposes pur-poses other than which they were originally imposed, the building and maintenance of highways. Under the new federal highway bill, on federal highway projects the national government will contribute con-tribute $74 for every $26 spent by the state or nearly $3 for every dollar spent by the state. Upon this basis, according to the civic club officials, when money is diverted di-verted from the highway fund, as has been done in the past, and can be done in the future unless prohibited pro-hibited by statute, not only do Utah highways lose the money which should be allotted to them by the state, but an additional three times that sum, which would have been contributed by the federal government, is irrevocably lost. In the case of Utah, according to Congressman Rohinson, as high as $5,000,000 in federal funds may be lost to the state in three years under conditions of the highway bill if the state does not take advantage ad-vantage of all of the highway fund available. Due to wartime conditions which prevent, to some extent, the expansion ex-pansion of the highway system, there has been an inclination by a number of states to use highway funds for other purposes. Utah isn't the only offender, according to civic club officials, since highway high-way tax money diverted to other purposes in the United States in a period of eight years amounted to $1,555,002,000 or enough to build eleven highways, 22 feet wide, from Maine to California. Since urban localities have their own street systems and are affected much less than the rural sections, which depend upon the highways almost exclusively for transportation transporta-tion facilities, the two organizations organiza-tions of smaller communities in the state are joining in a fight for legislation to protect the state's highways. |