By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Congress gave final approval to fund $1 million for a
rail line from Sigurd/Salina to the Union Pacific main line
at Levan, to help haul coal.
They also gave approval for $2 million for
reconstruction of I-15 from the Sevier River to Mills
Junction.
The money was included in the 2002 Transportation
Appropriations Act. Both houses of Congress approved changes
negotiated by a House-Senate conference, and sent it to
President Bush.
The biggest funding package approved was $45 million
for Utah transportation projects, including money to extend
the TRAX light-rail system from Rice-Eccles Stadium to the
University of Utah Medical Center.
The bill includes $14 million for ongoing construction
of the light rail from the center of Salt Lake City up 400
South to Rice-Eccles Stadium. It also contains $3 million to
help extend the line farther to the University Medical
Center.
The news came as TRAX service celebrated its two-year
anniversary Tuesday. The line opened Dec. 6, 1999.
Other Utah funding in the bill includes:
$7 million for ongoing Salt Lake International Airport
improvement projects.
$5 million for transportation systems for athletes,
spectators, media and other officials associated with the
Paralympic Games.
$1 million for Utah Transit Authority intermodal
terminals.
$560,000 for Utah Intelligence Transportation
Systems.
$500,000 for Utah Transit Authority and Park City
Transit buses.
$5 million to the Utah Department of Transportation
for reimbursement of the I-15 reconstruction project.
$3 million for intermodal transportation centers.
$1 million for the Arches National Park main entrance
relocation.
$1 million for U-153 at Beaver Junction.
$250,000 for a new access road to the Bear River
Migratory Bird Refuge destroyed by floods in early
1980s.
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