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SALT LAKE CITY — Those advising the future of the Point of the Mountain signaled that transportation remains the key issue residents want to be addressed. But as the project continues through a funding stage, those in charge of the project are still trying to figure out what the final plan will be.
Multiple groups, including members from Envision Utah, Wasatch Front Regional Council and the Utah Transit Authority testified in front of the Point of the Mountain Development Commission at the Utah State Capitol Tuesday about various planned transportation projects for the southern Salt Lake County and northern Utah County over the upcoming decades during a meeting.
Ari Bruening, president and chief operating officer for Envision Utah, reminded the committee of the outcome of a study of the looming project released earlier this year. It found residents believed transportation was the most important issue ahead of an educated workforce, amenities and affordability.
Envision Utah projects that the travel time from the Draper prison site to Provo during rush hour will jump from 28 minutes now to 86 minutes by 2050 if nothing is done to address population growth on I-15. The time from the Utah State Prison site to Salt Lake City would increase from 21 minutes to 30 minutes.
The most popular transportation plan would cut those times to 25 minutes to Salt Lake City and 66 minutes to Provo.
Thus, a giant portion of the discussion Tuesday centered around the future of highways and mass transit in the area. The group brought up widening of the Mountain View Corridor, Redwood Road and I-15 as ways to help ease traffic burdens expected by 2050. A North-South Boulevard could be added, which would have the capability for mass transit to it.
The possibility of extending TRAX or rapid transit bus lines, enhancing FrontRunner and even using micro-transit options, including autonomous vehicles with on-demand routes, by 2050 was also brought up during the meeting.
The study released earlier this year showed people favored a transportation option that would extend TRAX into Utah County and create a new boulevard to connect the two counties. Officials said Tuesday businesses tend to build closer to transit systems.
The groups that spoke Tuesday didn’t scrap any plans but did offer adjustments to proposals as more analysis of the projects, what the future of the area may look like and costs come in. For example, Andrew Gruber, executive director for the Wasatch Front Regional Council, suggested the committee to look at “high-capacity” transit options in Draper near the site of the current prison, which will be torn down and repurposed in the upcoming years.
“The plans are put forward as a roadmap to decision making for investment,” he said, noting that a Unified Transportation Plan for 2050 will be adopted in June 2019, and that plans are typically altered every four years.
“However, it would be too narrow to think of it as a once-in-four-years plan,” Gruber added. “It is rather more of a process than a product. It’s not static, it is dynamic. If done right, the planning process is responding to, or perhaps more importantly, anticipating changes that are coming in our environment.”
Laura Hanson, UTA director of planning, said UTA is on the verge of ending a two-year study into the future of FrontRunner services. Under the preferred scenario, UTA would switch from diesel to electric trains, have free fares, add in double-track railway to increase the amount of trains and increase speeds up to 90 mph to make the commute shorter.
Without these changes, Hanson said UTA officials project a daily FrontRunner ridership in 2050 to be 28,000 people; with the changes, the projected ridership increases to 107,000, she said.
However, that comes at an estimated $3 billion cost — though Hanson said some of the cost could be cut with federal grants.
Nothing is certain while the funding phase of the Point of the Mountain project continues and the costs of the different projects are calculated. In fact, the two-hour meeting adjourned with a request for the groups to discuss with each other about their different analyses and return with a more finite proposal for their transportation plans.
When we look at the cost estimates, I hope we’re being realistic with it because the cost of getting a contractor on a job and getting them to set up and start construction — it’s difficult to do.
–Draper Mayor Troy Walker
In addition, Draper Mayor Troy Walker warned that the cost of such projects have increased in recent years because cities in the area have struggled to find bids from contractors.
“When we look at the cost estimates, I hope we’re being realistic with it because the cost of getting a contractor on a job and getting them to set up and start construction — it’s difficult to do,” he said, adding that the prison relocation is coming “sooner than later,” which may push planning into action faster than anticipated.
While the majority of the meeting centered around transportation, water resource officials also spoke about the area's water needs in the future.
Gene Shawcroft, general manager and CEO of the Central Utah Water Conservancy, told the committee that the area’s current water situation is good. However, increased high-density housing in the area could strain water supplies by 2050.
The problem, he said, is that while fewer lawns would be watered compared to the standard 1/4-acre home lot, the number of people in a space would lead to more water consumption.
Shawcroft was also concerned growth may occur in non-irrigated areas, where water isn’t currently being sent. Walker, on the other hand, countered later in the meeting that the preferred 1/4-acre housing plots may not be feasible to meet the anticipated population growth in 2050.
It’s a problem that Shawcroft said could pop up during the same time as the transportation needs are being met.
“We have sufficient water for today, but as we look into the future the density is a key issue. The location is another key issue and the jurisdiction,” he said. “The immediate future, we’re fine. The question is down the road 20-25 years, where is that population going to be and how do we go about making sure there’s sufficient water?”
