The Grand County Council held a public hearing on the proposed Scenic Byways Corridor Management Plan prepared by consultant Randy Jorgen. Jorgen said during his presentation of the plan last month that the document was “extensively” modified by the Scenic Byways Committee prior to being presented to the council.

No action was taken. Council chairman Gene Ciarus asked for written comments by Dec. 9, but said the hearing would continue at the council’s next meeting on Dec. 16.

After hearing an introduction by Marian DeLay, director of the Moab Area Travel Council, and Russ Von Koch of the Bureau of Land Management, one resident spoke more or less in favor of the plan. Two others joined him in asking for inclusion of all citizen comments. They also asked for a delay in any promotion that might increase traffic on the river road before safety measures are implemented.

Three people who identified themselves as involved in oil, gas, and mining were joined by two county elected officials in protesting any attempt to prohibit trucks hauling uranium ore from the river road.

Funds to prepare the plan were obtained from the National Scenic Drive Association in 2006. “The approved project was to develop a corridor management plan, which included inventory of existing features, outline topics related to safety, interpretation and protection of natural and historic resources, identify specifications to maintain the intrinsic qualities, and address ways to use the byways to promote tourism while conserving and enhancing the byway qualities,” according to DeLay.

The plan covers not only state Route 128, the Colorado River Road, but also state Route 279, the Potash Road, and state Route 313, the road to Dead Horse Point. The idea, DeLay said, was for a plan that would take care of everything not covered by the county general plan, the BLM’s resource management plan, or its Colorado Riverways management plan.

“The public lands [in the scenic corridors] are some of the most protected by BLM that I know of,” Von Koch said, adding the byway plan will help continue that process.

DeLay talked about how the first draft of the plan was edited by the committee in a number of meetings to remove redundancies. Noting that not all comments from the public were included because they are beyond the scope of the plan, she said they could be relevant to other county activities.

“My main concern is regarding safety,” said Aaron Davies, a member of the Castle Valley Town Council who emphasized that he was speaking as a private citizen.” Davies asked that the plan include a requirement for safety improvements before efforts to increase traffic through tourist promotion are made.

Davies also asked that a recommendation to prohibit uranium ore hauling on the byways be restored to the scenic byways proposal. Three people attending the meeting objected to a county protest of the BLM’s pending oil and gas lease sale. They were joined by Grand County Treasurer Peggy Taylor.

“This community started with mining, with people driving their cattle on [state Route]128,” Taylor said. “To say they can’t haul is not looking at the whole picture.”

Bruce Keeler of Castle Valley admitted that many of the deletions did not fit into the scope of a corridor plan. But, he said, many of them involved concerns about marketing that will induce more traffic before safety measures are implemented.

“Except for that I think the committee did a great job,” Keeler said.

All three highways are already part of the Utah Scenic Byway system. State Route 128 is included in the national system as part of the Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway that loops north from Moab following U.S. 191 through Vernal and then through eastern Colorado and back to Moab along the river road.