The Utah Chapter of the Associated General Contractors held its 93rd annual convention Jan. 22-24 in Salt Lake City, with praise for members’ past work and an eye on building the state’s future. Transportation funding and the $1-billion-plus construction of a new state prison loom large in the annual session of the Utah state legislature, which began Jan. 26.
“We hope we’ll see some changes in how the gas tax is collected and maybe some adjustments to fees on vehicles that don’t pay the gas tax but still impact the roads,” says Rich Thorn, president and CEO of Utah AGC. “It has been 18 years now since we raised the gas tax or made changes to how transportation is funded. The long-range transportation plan from now to 2040 is showing we are $11.5 billion short. We need to maintain what we have as well as meet the needs of future growth. Right now we are not doing that.”