Utahns are concerned about getting around. The Utah Foundation’s 2022 Quality of Life project includes two transportation policy solutions to help increase Utahns’ quality of life:
- Investing in the built environment and enhancing land use policies to promote streetscapes that are pedestrian friendly and include key amenities.
- Investing in transportation and transit infrastructure to reduce traffic and improve the quality of roads and highways.
On October 10th, HNTB and UTA sponsored a Breakfast Briefing to discuss these topics. Attendees joined in a robust discussion answering the following questions:
- Why are trails, complete streets, first/last mile transit access, and active-transportation connectivity important to quality of life?
- How do we plan and create these amenities?
- How can local communities best partner with the state and federal government – including accessing available funding – to advance these goals?
The panelists for this important event were:
- Dina Blaes, Director, Office of Regional Development at Salt Lake County
- Michelle Carroll, Executive Director of Mountainland Association of Governments
- Charles Small, West Region Government Affairs Officer and Vice President at HNTB, and former U.S. Department of Transportation Deputy Assistant Secretary – Intergovernmental Affairs
- Josh Van Jura, Director, Trails and Transit Group at the Utah Department of Transportation
Andrew Gruber, Utah Foundation Trustee and Executive Director of the Wasatch Front Regional Council, moderated the discussion. We also heard from Utah Foundation Trustee and HNTB Vice President Dominic Spaethling.
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Thanks to our sponsors, HNTB and the UTA, this event is free to the public. Thanks to Zions Bank for hosting.
