The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Friday that earmarked $1.5 million for 500 West in Moab. The money was part of a six-year comprehensive highway bill, passed in the Senate last month and expected to be signed later this month by the president.

The money will not be allocated until Congress passes its 2006-2007 Highway Appropriations bill next year, but according to Congressman Jim Matheson aide Alyson Heyrend, contractors may begin work on the road before then with money from the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), which would be repaid later. If UDOT does not give those funds in advance, the money will be given to the state and then passed to the city next year.

Moab Mayor Dave Sakrison requested the money a few years ago, but comprehensive highway bills are passed only every six years. “It’s been a long and hard process, but we’ve finally made it,” Sakrison said. He said the money will be used to repave 500 West, install sidewalks and bike lanes and fix the intersection with Kane Creek Boulevard.

He said that while the road would not serve as a bypass, it might serve as an alternative in the event that Main Street becomes inoperable. He said Senators Orrin Hatch and Robert Bennett and Congressman Matheson had helped to have the money allocated.

The bill also includes a provision making Highway 6 eligible to receive High Priority Corridor Funding. According to Myron Lee from UDOT, the funding has allowed the department to plan to reconstruct and widen the road, the most highly traveled road between Interstate 15 and Interstate 70. Matheson called it “the most dangerous stretch of highway in Utah.”

Overall, Utah will receive $1.8 billion for highway and transit projects, including $2.4 million for road improvements on the Navajo Reservation. Matheson said the bill would contribute to “safer, more efficient travel, good-paying jobs and a better quality of life in our state.”