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Show Utah Highways .Show Progress Very soon legislators will be struggling with budgets for various state departments. The Road Commission is one' of the , largest of state functions from both a monetary standpoint and , number of employees. The biggest single source of its revenue is from the motor fuel tax, which comprises 60 of its income. Its second largest source of income is from Federal Aid from the Bureau of Public Roads. On the interstate inter-state each $5.00 put up by the State is matched by $95.00 from the Federal Government. On the other systems of roads . that get Federal Aid - the primary, secondary, and urban 'each $16.00 is matched by $74.00 by Uncle Sam. Fortunately Fortun-ately enough, during the past biennium the Utah State Road Commission has ben able to supply (sufficient money to match Federal Aid. Many states have not been able to do this. On any funds diverted from the motor fuel tax the State looses corresponding matching funds from the Bureau Bu-reau of Public Roads. As an example, with the diversion of $50,000.00 from the motor t fuel tax, the State Road Commission would actually lose a $1 million construction job on the Interstate since the $50,000.00 would be matched with $950,000.00 from the Federal Fed-eral Government. Other revenue comes from vehicle registration registra-tion (license plates). The balance bal-ance is miscellaneous such as reimbursment for work done by the Road Commission for cities and counties, and their proportionate share of Federal Aid for secondary projects. Funds from other federal a-gencies a-gencies are also included in this category. With the opening of final bids for the year on December 23, the total for construction projects opened reached ap-promimately ap-promimately $31.5 million according ac-cording to officials from the State Road Cmmission. This is a new high for the State. The amount on bid openings last year was $19.5 million. The state hopes to have the figure over the $40 million mark during 1959. This will depend upon the availability of funds, however. The total mileage on these projects, if placed end to end, would stretch across the whole state from north to south since this figure reached 493 miles. The state handled 98 projects during its bid openings for 1958. This year marked a big start on the Interstate with the completion com-pletion of the first project on the system, the Beck Street Overpass. Some 15 projects had their beginning, and these bids amounted to almost $13.5 million mil-lion for the Interstate. The-balance The-balance of the funds of an amount of $18 million, was therefore expended on the other systems around the state; the primary, secondary, and urban, as well as those jobs that use state funds only. Commissioners have set up a long-range financial guide to aid in future programming on all state road systems. As part of the plan, three basic concepts were established as the basis of programming of annual construction. For the period ending November 30, the state has held a total of 33 informational meetings and hearings as part of their program to make the public a part of their road-building decisions. They involved some 550 miles of highway routing' and were attended by over 6,000 people. According to the Bureau of Public Roads, estimates est-imates on a national basis, each $1 million of highway construction requires on the average of 15,000 barrels of cement, 240 tons of structural steel, 195 tons of reinforcing steel, 1,567 tons of bitumens mainly asphalt paving and 593 tons of concrete pipe. |
