- A federal judge halted Utah's Northern Corridor project through an injunction issued on Sunday.
- The injunction favors conservationists worried about impacts to Mojave desert tortoise's habitat.
- Washington County leaders remain hopeful the highway project will eventually proceed.
ST. GEORGE — Construction of a new highway corridor in southwest Utah has been paused yet again after a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to suspend the project while the case plays out in court.
The order, handed down by a judge in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia on Sunday, prohibits the Utah Department of Transportation from beginning any construction-related activities on the Northern Corridor project in Washington County. The agency is still permitted to conduct any geotechnical work required for future stages, provided it doesn't involve drilling or other changes to the land.
It signals an early victory for conservation groups suing the federal government over the plan, arguing that the proposed 4.5-mile highway is detrimental to the threatened Mojave desert tortoise. The project cuts through a small portion of the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area in the county, which requires the relocation of a few dozen desert tortoises.
Six groups filed the lawsuit last month, adding that UDOT "rushed ahead" to install fencing and other preliminary work before a development plan received approval from the Bureau of Land Management.
"We're pleased the court saw through the false sense of urgency by UDOT and Utah politicians to start work on the Northern Corridor Highway through Red Cliffs National Conservation Area," said Stacey Wittek, executive director of the group Conserve Southwest Utah, one of the plaintiff organizations in the suit. "Starting 'mitigation' work without final approval from the Bureau of Land Management for highway construction jeopardizes community trust while threatening irreversible harm to Red Cliffs and the Mojave desert tortoise."
The decision also marks a setback for Washington County leaders, who have called it a vital project to meet the growing area's transportation needs. The project calls for more than 6,800 acres of land east of Bloomington to be set aside as new habitat as part of a land swap tied to it, which state and local officials say can be the new home for any desert tortoises that have to be relocated.
Although the project is now on hold, the Washington County Commission said it remains confident it will move forward.
"While we are disappointed that construction must pause, (the) ruling does not mean the court will agree with the road's opponents after it has fully considered the administrative record and legal arguments," its members wrote in a statement on Monday, noting that preliminary injunctions are often used to "maintain the status quo" while all aspects of the case are considered.
"We welcome the opportunity to have those merits heard and are confident we will prevail," it added.
There is no timeline for the court to issue its final decision.
The lawsuit is just the latest twist in the saga over the proposed road, which entered a new chapter when the Bureau of Land Management reapproved UDOT's plan to construct the highway in January. The proposal had been talked about for years before UDOT first applied for a right-of-way in 2018.
Bureau officials had approved the plan in 2021, during the final week of President Donald Trump's first term in office. Environmental groups sued over the decision, which was reversed by the agency through an alternative picked in 2024 during President Joe Biden's term.
