APO AE 09213-1315
July 24, 1995
The Honorable Orrin Hatch
United States Senator
Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Bennett:
During an assignment to a previous post in northern Mexico my wife and I frequently traveled home to Utah via I-17 to Flagstaff, proceeding onwards via US 89 to Lees Ferry and Kanab -- from which we had the choice of cutting over to St. George, thence by way of I-15, or continuing on via US 89 to join up with I-70 just east of Cove Fort. Road's not bad. And it's quite lovely driving through the Navajo National Forest and Jacob's Lake. But whenever there's a holiday or long weekend, the crowd of holiday-makers pulling their boats to Lake Powell gets bumper to bumper, with no possibility of passing. And the many hills means driving for mile after mile at perhaps thirty miles an hour. Frustrating.
Don't know why neither the combined Arizona and Utah Highway Commissions, nor the Federal highway authorities, have ever done anything about a Freeway (or for that matter a Tollway) connecting the I-40/I-17 junction at Flagstaff with either the nearest I-15 connection at St. George or the I-70 connection east of Cove. It's only about 170 miles and would complete the Utah-Arizona Interstate system bringing thousands of additional tourists into the Glen Canyon, Zion's Park, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon area and giving better access to both the North and South Rim of Grand Canyon. It'd be good for the economy of this remote part of Utah (and Arizona) and be a blessing for travelers. At present, many drive all the way to Las Vegas (overnighting and spending big bucks there), instead of boosting the Utah economy while enjoying the beauties of Zion and Bryce and Glen Canyon.
I know this isn't a good time to talk about spending federal money on new highways. But this Interstate connection is truly needed -- and merited. With attention now being given to privatization and user-fees, the possibility should exist for contracting out construction to a private consortium with, say, a twenty-five year period for cost-recovery. The French, decided from gitgo that they couldn't afford a free super-highway system like the Germans and Americans, and adopted a privately contracted method to construct a marvelous system of Autoroutes for which users pay a reasonable toll. Nor does having to pay a toll seem to dissuade people from using Pennsylvania or New York tollroads.
I think taking the initiative to get such a self-amortizing, highly useful Interstate toll link might be seen as one of the most important contributions of your service in the Senate. And who knows, a grateful public might even name the link after you once your Senate service is over.
Let me add the thought that my wife and I are not just a little pleased with the way things are moving in Washington with respect to returning to the States the undelegated sovereignty guaranteed to the Constitution but gradually usurped over the past two hundred years. When I studied Con Law almost fifty years ago my professors held out as one of the glories of the American system the possibility of 48 (now 50) state laboratories in which to try out new notions, leaving it to other states to adopt 'em when they were seen to work. Seems to me that a lot of our current problems stem from imposing untested Great Society notions across the board before anyone had had a chance to try 'em out and identify shortcomings.
Sincerely,
D. B. Timmins
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