HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS NEWSLETTER INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

BRT IS COMING! The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) and project partners are ready to begin major construction for the new Ogden/WSU Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Ogden. The 5.3 mile fixed-guideway route will run from the Ogden FrontRunner Station, through downtown Ogden, down 25th Street to Harrison Blvd., through the Weber State University (WSU) campus and to McKay-Dee Hospital. The project includes 1.5 miles of dedicated bus lanes through the center of Harrison Boulevard and the WSU campus. When it becomes operational in 2023, 11 clean-air electric buses will service 13 stations along the route every 10-15 minutes on weekdays and 15-30 minutes on weekends. Join them for the groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, April 13, 2pm. Click here to get your free ticket.

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After many years of planning and preparation the West Davis Corridor is now under construction! This new 16-mile, 4-lane divided highway project is currently planned to be constructed in western Davis County and includes a separated multi-use pathway along the corridor (similar to the Legacy Parkway). The first phase of construction will connect to I-15 & Legacy Parkway, on the south end at approximately Glovers Lane in Farmington, extending west and north, terminating at 4500 West and the future extension of SR-193 in West Point. The highway is planned to extend to 1800 North in West Point in the future and the Regional Transportation Plan has it extending further into West Haven and Hooper, ultimately connecting back to I-15 in North Weber County / Box Elder County. When completed in the winter of 2024, the project will allow for better access to jobs along the Wasatch Front, help alleviate congestion on both I-15 and the east-west roadways in the area, and provides a new scenic multi-use pathway along the Great Salt Lake - all while helping preserve sensitive green space.

The countdown begins for the Utah Bike Summit! A platform featuring speakers, training sessions, networking opportunities, and discussions focusing on how to build a better community through cycling. The summit is open to the public and accessible from your own home or office. We hope you join us, register today here: https://www.accelevents.com/e/UtahBikeSummit 

WFRC is proud to be a sponsor of this year's virtual summit happening March 30 - April 1 & April 6. #UtahBikeSummit

Move Utah Webinar Series: Intersection of Equity and Diversity in Transportation

Move Utah is hosting a series of webinars focused on important topics related to “active transportation” -- biking and walking -- across Utah. The webinars feature subject-matter experts, local community leaders, industry advocates, and others. These virtual events provide excellent opportunities to dive deep into the latest on transportation planning and implementation. 

The latest installment of the webinars was a two part feature on the topic of "Intersection of Equity & Diversity: Impacts on Underserved Communities." This engaging virtual event moderated by Nikki Navio, WFRC Transportation Planner, focused on the literal and figurative intersection of the built environment and its impacts on diverse and underserved communities in Utah with practitioners in Utah. The three panelists provided valuable perspectives on the topic. We heard from Nichol Bordeaux, the planning and engagement officer for the Utah Transit Authority, Maria Garciaz, CEO of NeighborWorks Salt Lake, and Ashley Cleveland, the first Black city planner in Utah who serves as a Millcreek City Promise Program Manager. 

In case you missed it, or if you would like to watch it again, recordings of the webinar are available on UDOT's YouTube channel both in English and in Spanish. https://move.utah.gov/webinar-series/

If you didn’t think high-performing broadband options were important before the COVID-19 era, you’ve probably recently changed your mind. And, it’s almost ‘a given’ that broadband will continue to provide important connections to work, education, and basic services going forward. This month’s WFRC Map of the Month features two existing maps that illustrate Utah’s broadband landscape at a very detailed level.

The first map, the Utah Residential Broadband Map, shows the speeds, providers, and service technologies available across Utah. You can filter by any of these factors or just type in an address to see what’s available. The link above opens the map with its filter preset to show non-mobile services with at least 25 Mbps download and 10 Mbps second upload -- a good threshold for work-at-home. HB 348, passed during the Legislature’s 2021 general session, creates a new Utah Broadband Center within the renamed Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (Go Utah, formerly GOED) and an accompanying grant program for broadband projects that impact Utah’s un/under-served areas.

Another project of GO Utah and their mapping partner UGRC, the Utah Economic Development Map, opens to show where businesses can expect to easily obtain a fiber-based broadband connection. This is just one of the layers that show the geography of what’s important to business. Other key site selection layers include major transportation corridors, utility providers, incentive zones, and community amenities such as recreation, higher education, and healthcare destinations. Enter an address or click the map to generate a site-specific report across all the layers.

In partnership with UDOT, UTA, and Salt Lake County, we are happy to announce the 2021 Transportation and Land Use Connection (TLC) Program awards. This year the program is funding 16 projects involving 21 different communities, totaling nearly $1.4 million of investment in addition to staff time commitments. Three communities in our region are receiving their first ever TLC awards this year! See the list of new and exciting projects here.

TLC is a partnership between the Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC), Salt Lake County, Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), and Utah Transit Authority (UTA). The TLC program provides technical assistance to local communities to help them achieve their goals and plan for growth. The program helps communities implement changes to the built environment that reduce traffic on roads and enable more people to easily walk, bike, and use transit. This approach is consistent with the Wasatch Choice Vision and helps residents living throughout the region enjoy a high quality of life through enhanced mobility, better air quality, and improved economic opportunities.

 

The WFEDD/WFRC, in partnership with the US EDA, awarded 7 grants to assist 11 cities, counties, and metropolitan service districts, with the economic impacts related to COVID-19. These grants will help by updating economic development plans, resiliency planning, digital infrastructure planning, business recovery assistance, COVID-19 related business training and underserved area social impact bonding. See the list of the EDA CARES Act projects here.

In 2017 Murray City adopted a new General Plan aiming to "Guide growth to promote prosperity and sustain a high quality of life for those who live, work, shop, and recreate in Murray." The Transportation and Land Use Connection program awarded Murray funds in 2019 to complete a Small Area Plan to help them further that goal. The Small Area Plan studied the area between the Fashion Place West TRAX station and Fashion Place Mall. The area includes aging light industrial uses, Fashion Place Mall, two multi-family developments, and a stable residential neighborhood bisected by the I-215 interchange.

The plan is intended to strengthen the relationship between the TRAX station and the Fashion Place Mall, improve connectivity for the neighborhood, improve overall neighborhood quality, and promote transit use and active transportation. The plan considers potential future development patterns and how the use of urban design and placemaking strategies can promote the establishment of a vibrant area to live, work, and play. 

45 unprecedented days come to a close... The 2021 Utah Legislature adjourned shortly before midnight on Friday, March 5, after a 45-day session. The session was unprecedented, most notably because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which kept the halls of the capitol (mostly) empty, but constituent participation actually increased through excellent virtual access. The Legislature adopted a $23.5 billion budget, including significant additional funding for education and infrastructure, as well as delivering tax cuts, enabled by Utah's resilient economy despite the pandemic. In case you missed it, click here for our WFRC 2021 LEGISLATIVE SESSION WRAP UP.

Congress has passed the American Rescue Plan, which is expected to inject more than $8 billion into Utah’s economy. While a significant portion ($3.8 billion) of the federal dollars will go to Utahns in the form of direct payments, the state, counties, and cities will also see a large influx of funding. Click here for a summary from the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget of total stimulus allocations in Utah. 

The Biden Administration released a very broad $3 trillion dollar infrastructure investment proposal this week. While details on the upcoming proposal are preliminary, we do know that the plan includes roughly $1 trillion proposed to be spent on roads, bridges, electric vehicle infrastructure, and rail lines. 

Congress is also looking to return to earmarking in the appropriations process and the surface transportation reauthorization. These “community project” funding earmarks for transportation projects will be focused on projects that are already included in a Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) adopted by the relevant Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) such as WFRC and/or State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) adopted by UDOT.  

We would like to take this opportunity to honor all of the dedicated and talented women within WFRC. We celebrate the vital role each of them play within our organization.

Pictured above: (Row 1) Andrea Pearson, Executive Assistant & Compliance Administrator | Rosie Hernandez, Administrative Assistant | Amber Gonzales, Human Resource Administrator | Loveit Baumgardner, Chief Financial Officer (Row 2) Megan Townsend, Community and Economic Development Director | Christy Dahlberg, Community Development Planner | Marcia White, Regional Economic Development Planner | Miranda Jones Cox, Government Affairs Manager (Row 3) Julie Bjornstad, Transportation Planner | Lauren Victor, Transportation Planner | Nikki Navio, Transportation Planner (Row 4) Nicole Mendelsohn, GIS Analyst | Suzie Swim, Transportation Modeler & GIS Analyst