Stimulus money to accelerate Wasatch Front transit plan

Federal stimulus spending could improve daily commutes for folks from West Valley City to Ogden.

When the Wasatch Front Regional Council considers its five-year Transportation Improvement Program in late August, the proposal will include upgrades made possible by $25 million that the stimulus program targeted for Salt Lake County and $12 million for Weber and Davis counties.

The regional planning council used that money on other immediate needs, including congestion management and air quality, freeing up funds for new projects to make the five-year plan.

The biggest is a tandem of transit and road upgrades along 5600 West. The council plans to give West Jordan $5 million for widening between 6200 South and 7000 South. Then the council expects to steer another $5 million to bus rapid transit between 6200 South and 2700 South in Kearns and West Valley City.

The Wasatch Front money won't complete a separate lane for buses, as is the ultimate goal on 5600 West, council Deputy Director Doug Hattery said. But it would help the Utah Transit Authority build passenger shelters and a bus-favoring signal system like those lining 3500 South after the agency opened its first rapid bus line there last year.

"We're kind of giving them some seed money to get them started," Hattery said.

West Jordan sees the corridor and its widening as crucial to keep pace with growth. Eventually, the two-lane road needs widening to five lanes all the

way to 8200 South, city Public Works Director Wendell Rigby said.

"We just don't have a lot of north-south roads out there," he said.

The bus line is part of a transit upgrade in conjunction with construction of the Mountain View highway, which already was on Wasatch Front's plan.

Other expenses the council will consider adding to its plan at its Aug. 27 meeting:

$5 million » to expand Ogden's 40th Street access to Weber State University from two lanes to four between Adams and Gramercy.

"We're eliminating a bottleneck there," Hattery said.

$2.5 million » to add a center turn lane and shoulders to 800 North in Clinton. "That's just a real fast-growing area," Hattery said, "and needs a better east-west connection."

$6 million » to add a lane in either direction on 13400 South from 4000 West to 4600 West in Riverton.

bloomis@sltrib.com