After hitting a roadblock last year, a planned highway crossing through conservation land near St. George has made its way back to the desks of federal land managers.

The Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, is reconsidering Utah’s application to build a four-lane highway stretching four miles through part of the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area.

Washington County and the state contend the proposed Northern Corridor highway is needed to clear up traffic congestion in fast-growing St. George. Conservation and environmental groups say the route would cut into core wildlife habitat for the endangered Mohave desert tortoise and disrupt scenic views.

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They also worry it could set a precedent opening up other public lands to road construction, said Todd Tucci with Advocates for the West, a Boise-based environmental law firm.

“Right now is a time for all people that have dirt under their fingernails and dirt in their boots to stand up for the landscapes that they love,” Tucci said.

To date, no conservation area in the country has been carved up and paved for a highway, Tucci said, but President Donald Trump this week approved a planned mining road in Alaska that would cut partly through the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve.

Utah’s plan dates back more than two decades. It has stalled and started repeatedly since then, with environmental groups suing in 2021 and the Biden administration taking a new look at possible environmental impacts and other potential routes.

In November 2024, the BLM and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended a different option – expanding the existing Red Hills Parkway Expressway – which they said would limit the impact on wildlife habitat. The move was cheered by conservation groups and criticized by Utah’s governor and members of the state’s congressional delegation.

Utah Representative Celeste Maloy, a former deputy Washington County attorney, said the BLM disregarded local voices in its decision last year.

“Unelected bureaucrats have repeatedly undermined longstanding efforts from state and local leaders and demonstrated an unwillingness to partner with local governments,” Maloy said in a statement last December. “We look forward to working with the incoming Trump administration to review this decision and its compliance with federal law.”

Now the BLM says Utah’s Department of Transportation has reviewed that alternate recommendation and “identified substantial technical and economic challenges.”

In response, the agency said it’s seeking to find another option and soliciting public feedback. The BLM is taking comments on its website through Nov. 3.