Transportation

Dealing with Growth in Utah

Written by: Stephen Hershey Kroes

The rapid population growth that occurred in Utah during the 1990s is still expected to continue for the next thirty years. The challenges presented by the significant growth underlie many of the other top issues facing this state. Education, jobs, water supply, health care, crime, higher education, environment, and transportation are all greatly impacted by population growth. This brief will seek to explain how growth patterns will impact some of the top issues identified by … Continued

Utah’s Air Quality Improving But Vehicle Emissions a Growing Concern

Written by: Stephen Hershey Kroes

The quality of Utah’s air was in the news a great deal during the last winter. Prolonged inversions along the Wasatch Front, coupled with concerns and miscalculations of air quality in the Cache Valley raised voters’ awareness of the issue. So how bad is Utah’s air? The answer depends quite a bit on which measure of air quality is being used. Those measures are tied to the standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) … Continued

Challenges in Meeting Utah’s Growing Transportation Needs

Written by: Stephen Hershey Kroes

Utah faces a major challenge as the demand on the state’s transportation system continues to rapidly grow. From 1991 to 2001 Utah’s population increased 28%, while travel, measured by Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) increased by 52% (Figure 1). During that same period highway capacity (lane miles) on the state system has increased only about 2%. The rise in travel is a national trend, and the Federal Highway Administration forecasts that travel will increase another 50 … Continued