• WFRC Named Employer of the Year by WTS
• Utah Delegation Hosted by City of Davis and UC Davis
• Ordinance Assistance Available
• 2023 TLC Report Card Released
• Map of the Month: Track Your Progress on the Golden Spoke Trail System
• Golden Spoke Bike Ride Saturday May 13
• Government Affairs Update
• Provide Comments on the Draft WFRC Unified Planning Work Program
• From Our Partners
• ESRI Highlights WFRC’s Use of GIS



WFRC Named Employer of the Year by Women's Transportation Seminar

WFRC is proud to be named Employer of the Year by Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS), the leading professional organization for women who work in the transportation field, in the public or private sectors. This award recognizes employers who have exhibited excellence in recruiting, retaining and advancing women. WFRC is breaking the mold in the traditionally male-dominated transportation industry, with half of its staff being women. In addition, women hold many important leadership roles and responsibilities at WFRC. And this year, for the first time in WFRC’s history, the chair of our regional council is a woman - Mayor Dawn Ramsey of South Jordan, along with many other women leaders who serve on our Council and committees.

WFRC's flexibility, benefits, and care for its employees really makes a difference. Additionally, we consistently seek to recruit a diverse pool of applicants for all job openings. As we celebrate this achievement, we recommit to treating all of our employees and stakeholders with respect as valued members and contributors who bring unique skills and perspectives.

This honor comes on the heels of WFRC being named one of Utah’s 100 Companies Championing Women by the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity.



Utah Team Hosted by City of Davis and UC Davis

Bike Utah and WFRC recently organized a Mobile Active Transportation Tour (MATT) to Davis, California, which is a Platinum Level Bicycle Friendly City as ranked by the League of American Bicyclists. Davis was home to the first bike lane in the United States, the first bicycle protected intersection in the United States (followed by Salt Lake City in a close second!), is home to the US Bicycle Hall of Fame, and uses a highwheel bicycle in their city logo. Needless to say, biking is ingrained in the city's culture. Our Utah delegation visited to learn more about programs, policies, and infrastructure used by the city and UC Davis to promote travel by bicycle. We had representatives from Ogden, Davis County, Salt Lake City, West Jordan, South Jordan, Draper, Lehi, Vineyard, UDOT, Bike Utah, MAG, and WFRC. Some takeaways from the visit were: 

• "The visual experience of trails, connectivity, and the mind-set of our tour guides were the part of the tour I most appreciated."
• We need to up our game on bike parking (sidenote: do your city buildings have convenient and accessible bike parking?)
• We need to set up policy structures that can span administrations and personnel

While exploring the city, Mayor Troy Walker, Draper City and Chair of the Active Transportation Committee, met Cindy, a 70-year old who bikes for all her local needs. She pulled up to Trader Joe's with her grocery bags and rack baskets ready to shop. They had a great conversation and it really hit home that bicycling is done by everyone, not just young people.

Special thanks to Bike Utah, City of Davis, and UC Davis for making this happen!

While exploring the city, Mayor Troy Walker of Draper City and Chair of the Active Transportation Committee, met Cindy, a 70-year old who bikes for all her local needs. She pulled up to Trader Joe's with her grocery bags and rack baskets ready to shop. They had a great conversation and it really hit home that bicycling is done by everyone, not just young people.

Ordinance Assistance Available

Need help writing a street connectivity ordinance? Concerned about your parking regulations? We are excited to announce a new Ordinance Assistance opportunity within the Transportation and Land Use Connection (TLC) program. This opportunity enables communities to receive WFRC assistance in reviewing and suggesting updates to local ordinances that implement the Wasatch Choice Vision, at no-cost to the community. Visit the TLC webpage for more information and the application, or contact Mikala Jordan via mikala@wfrc.org.



2023 Transportation and Land Use Connection (TLC) Program Report Card Released

Click here to read the report card

Track Your Progress on the Golden Spoke Trail System

WFRC's April 2023 Map of the Month

National Bike Month (May) is soon upon us. What better time to take on the challenge of traversing the Wasatch Front's amazing Golden Spoke paved, multi-use trail system in its entirety.

While it is possible for the fit and ambitious to ride the main Golden Spoke trail in one long day, it's likely a more practical and a more enjoyable experience, if you break it up into smaller sections to ride over several weekends or even a year. (May 13th ride event and other Golden Spoke resources below)

And that's where our April Map of the Month comes in handy. Start the challenge in Ogden or Provo or anywhere in between. Print the map and use a marker to track your progress along the way.

The map includes the main trail, named spurs, and the UTA FrontRunner (Mon-Sat service) and Trax (all day service) train system. Both allow bicycles onboard and have stations along trail routes, making for a convenient way to travel to and from your adventures on the Golden Spoke.

Happy pedaling!

Golden Spoke Bike Ride on Saturday May 13

The Golden Spoke Bike Ride is being held on Saturday, May 13. This family-friendly ride encourages folks to enjoy any one of the number of trails that make up the Golden Spoke trail system. Afterwards, join us for a celebration event at Farmington Regional Park from 12-3 pm, where there will be food and festivities. 

Registration and more information can be found at GoldenSpokeUtah.org.

Legislative Interim

Earlier this month, the Legislative Management Committee met and approved the Study Items and Schedule for the 2023 interim period. Legislators will meet in May, June, August, September, October, and November of this year to study various policy topics and prepare legislation for the 2024 General Session. Once interim committees meet in May, we will have a better idea of when each topic will be discussed. Notable topics to be studied in the transportation interim committee include transit plans and solutions, active transportation planning, transportation funding, electrification, HTRZs, and more. 

Unified Economic Opportunity Commission 

The Unified Economic Opportunity Commission (UEOC) met last week kicking off the third year of studying and coordinating the State’s economic development goals and strategies. The preliminary meeting recommissioned the group’s membership, presented the proposed timeline for the next eight months in preparation for the 2024 Legislative Session, and shared a Summary of UEOC-Supported Legislation and Successes from the 2023 General Legislative Session, a number of which were WFRC priority bills. WFRC, along with a number of our transportation partners will continue to serve as members of the Growth and Transportation Working Group which will meet next week.

Transportation and Housing Ceremonial Bill Signing

Last week, Governor Spencer Cox ceremonially signed a package of key transportation and housing related bills from the 2023 legislative session. The governor signed a number of bills that WFRC and our partners worked extensively on (included in our 2023 End of Session Summary), and the Governor was joined by those partners, community leaders, and bill sponsors for the signing.

Federal Funding Opportunities

• (NEW!) Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) community grants are intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fill gaps in access to electric vehicle (EV) charging by providing funding for EV charging infrastructure in your communities. Eligible projects include acquisition and installation of EV charging infrastructure located on any public road or publicly accessible locations (parking facilities, public buildings, public schools, parks, etc.). Here you can find the Notice of Funding Opportunity, and webinar. Applications due May 30th.

Provide Comments on the Draft WFRC Fiscal Year 2024 Goals and Unified Planning Work Program

The Wasatch Front Regional Council seeks public review and comment on its Draft Fiscal Year 2024 Goals and Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP). WFRC's Goals describe the overarching objectives for the work of the organization during the fiscal year. The UPWP outlines in detail the work that WFRC, in collaboration with cities, counties, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), Utah Transit Authority (UTA), and other partners, will pursue. Among the primary tasks are to assist local communities with growth, transportation, and planning issues; begin the development of the 2027-2050 Regional Transportation Plan; complete the annual update of the Transportation Improvement Program; assist in the development of air quality plans; and provide outreach to the public and local, state, and federal officials. This summary of the UPWP provides an overview.

Comments will be accepted through May 10, 2023. Please direct questions or comments to Wayne Bennion, Director of Short-Range Planning and Programming, at wbennion@wfrc.org or 801-363-4250, ext 1112.

Options for Enhancing Utah’s Parks, Trails, and other Open Space

Utah’s natural resource endowments and its past cultivation of urban and suburban open spaces will likely continue to spur population growth in the future. As a result, additional stress will be placed upon existing endowments.

What can we do about it? Find out in the Utah Foundation's newest report. This report provides an understanding of why open space is important, looks at the population growth that is complicating access to open space, and describes the availability of open space. The report then offers a menu of options for local governments and communities to improve the use and allocation of open space.

ESRI Highlights WFRC’s Use of GIS to Support Transportation Planning and Economic Development in Recent Case Study

“Transportation planners in Utah, the fastest-growing state in the US, have to find ways to meet the demands of a population predicted to grow by just over half again by 2050. At the same time, economic growth, powered in part by dozens of tech start-up companies on the "Silicon Slopes" just south of Salt Lake City, will increase by a factor of 10 the numbers of vehicles passing through some existing traffic congestion choke points.”

“Deciding the ‘what’ and ‘where’ of land use—residential, commercial, retail, and social—and the transportation networks necessary to service these future developments, is driving the comprehensive planning process, which currently looks out through the year 2050. In support of this plan, the Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC), which serves as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the greater Salt Lake City area, has developed a series of online applications designed to help planners and the public better understand the future demographic and economic growth in the region, and the transportation infrastructure required to maintain regional mobility. The Wasatch Front Regional Council shares these applications with the neighboring Mountainland MPO (Provo-Orem), and together they cover approximately two million people—roughly 75–80 percent of the Utah population.”

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