ST. GEORGE — Construction of a passing lane on state Route 18 from the Ledges to the northern entrance of Snow Canyon State Park is set to begin following the approval of a bid Tuesday by the Washington County Commission.
The commission approved a $2 million bid from Sunroc Construction with a green light to begin roadwork within the next few weeks and conclude by the beginning of May. The objective is to complete the project before May 7 when the Ironman World Championship takes place.
The county has provided an incentive of around $25,000 to Sunroc to complete the project by May 1. If work trails beyond that, a penalty is attached.
“This is important, not only for the race, but for the safety of the travelers on that road,” Commission Chair Victor Iverson said.
Commissioners Adam Snow and Gil Almquist agreed. Snow, who commutes on SR-18 each day from Diamond Valley, added his personal observations.
“There is a safety issue,” he said. “As the only commissioner who lives there and drives it everyday … I can tell you that people will actually race a school bus or a hay truck or a milk truck or an RV, anything, when they see those two lanes are converging down. You’ll get 90-100 mph cars trying to get ahead for a few miles.”
This project is separate from another road-widening project set for SR-18 between Veyo and Central, which is slated to begin sometime this summer. As a part of that project, the county has been working with the Utah Department of Transportation on the building of a multiuse trail in UDOT’s right of way.
In other news, the commission approved allocations of the county’s recreation, arts and parks tax to various arts groups. The RAP tax comes from 1/10 of 1% of sales tax levied in the county.
Dimon McPherson, outgoing chairman of the county’s RAP tax board, said they deal with the arts portion of the RAP tax revenue, which is 15%. The remaining 85% goes to recreation and parks.
“The arts organizations tend to receive the least amount of attention,” McPherson said. “They tend to be the least funded.”
Thirty-nine different arts organizations applied for the RAP tax funding, with five being disqualified after being reviewed by a seven-member board. The board is very careful when vetting applicants, McPherson said, adding they look at the performing arts, visual arts and historical arts when considering applications.
If a group applying for RAP tax funds cannot fit into one of those categories, their application is denied.
In all, county allocations for arts organizations came to $610,000. The recipient of the largest portion of that – which isn’t counted among the applicants due to previous funding obligations approved by the County Commission – was the Tuacahn Center for the Arts at $125,000.
The remainder of the funds were spread across 34 different arts organizations. Among them is the Artistic Resources for Teachers and Students (ARTS Inc.) at $60,000, the St. George Musical Theater and Southern Utah Heritage Chair at $45,000 each and the St. George Children’s Museum at $20,000, among many others with allocations ranging between $2,500 and $35,000.
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