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Cache Valley mayors confront $7.9 million in COG requests; debate how to prioritize a valleywide reconstruction
Summary
Mayors on the Cache County Council of Governments reviewed 11 transportation proposals that together asked for about $7.9 million in COG funds. Discussion centered on whether to fund a large North Logan/200 East corridor reconstruction now, split or partially fund it, or seek matching funds from UDOT and legislators.
Cache Valley mayors and city staff met May 20 to review eleven transportation project applications and a roughly $7.9 million award pool the Cache County Council of Governments expects to distribute this cycle. The most contested item was a large North Logan/200 East corridor reconstruction request that proponents said would relieve valleywide congestion and address a recent crash history.
Jesse Montes, COG staff, told the committee the total award pool this year rose to about $7.9 million after county interest was added; after county oversight and contingency adjustments, a portion of that remains for project awards. Staff also reported the rural set-aside was calculated at $982,000 while rural requests totaled about $577,000, leaving unused rural money to roll back into the urban pot.
North Logan and Logan representatives urged mayors to treat 200 East as a valley-level priority, citing safety and system impacts. A North Logan presenter described the corridor plan as a “huge ask” but argued it would serve the whole valley by diverting traffic from Main Street and by adding active-transportation facilities. The presenter said the stretch had seen more than 22 crashes in five years and that the proposal includes two travel lanes each direction, a center turn lane, an 8-foot multiuse path and a new signal at Sixteenth Street.
Other mayors cautioned that the single North Logan request — if funded in full — could consume the majority of available COG funds and knock several otherwise shovel-ready projects off the list. “How do we rank the how do we work this out so that we can make sure that North Logan is going to get what they need as we go along?” one mayor asked, summarizing the dilemma facing the body.
Members discussed several options to address the funding gap: partial funding or phasing of the North Logan project, committing to right-of-way purchases now, asking UDOT or CMPO for targeted matching funds, and a short-term lobbying push to secure legislative or state aid. COG staff noted that project rankings by mayors can reorder the final allocations at the formal vote in two weeks and that the body can publicly adjust percentages in its next meeting once external funding commitments are better known.
The committee agreed to use the two-week window before final ranking to pursue potential matches and to have staff distribute digital scoring sheets for mayors to submit their votes. The meeting closed with direction to treat project merits seriously while continuing outreach to state partners and to return in two weeks prepared to finalize funding recommendations to the county council.
The next procedural step is for mayors to submit individual ranking sheets by the Friday after the meeting; the COG will compile results and present recommended awards at the subsequent meeting, with the County Council scheduled to consider final approval thereafter.
