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By Lyle Hillyard
Utah State Senator: Cache Valley

I recently returned from Oakland where I had attended some business meetings. I rode the BART into San Francisco and then back to catch my flight home. I caught the shuttle from the BART station to the Oakland Airport and was astounded as I watched the road that the shuttle was using. It was in a well used area of the city but the roads were absolutely atrocious. They were wavy and full of ruts and holes. I felt that these were the roads you would expect to find in a third world county.

I mentioned this to my wife who was riding by me and she shared her observations when several days before, she had riding from Sacramento to San Francisco with our daughter on that freeway. It was also in terrible shape. This really drove home to me how hard the choices are going to be in the upcoming sessions with where to put the limited funds that we will have to spend. The legislature has worked hard the past few years to identify funds that are needed to address the huge problems with have as a State with not only new construction but also the upkeep of our roads. We have put in place an on-going funding mechanism based on the sales tax collected from cars and related parts so have some funds to build and to bond for needed road construction.

Many legislators who can see on a daily basis the dire need for expanded roads are reluctant to transfer all of this funding for programs that have been taking these road funds for many years and leaving the roads left out. Sure, there will be some transfers and cuts like the other agencies but to decimate the on-going funds that give us the capacity to bond for more projects will be a hard sale. We are now being informed that the federal money which has traditionally been used for maintenance could also be cut. People need roads and access just like they need other things that government can provide. Again, we will have to balance the reductions so that no one program suffers the full brunt of the downturn of our economy.

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