The commissioners' plan to put a quarter-cent sales-tax boost on the November ballot for transportation is a good one. It would raise $12 million a year and could be leveraged to get matching state and federal funds. But, the commission seems focused only on road construction instead of a long-range solution that includes commuter- and light-rail options. In all their discussion about road building, county leaders must not forget that mass transit offers an alternative that provides cleaner air, fewer parking lots and lower cost in the long run.
Utah County voters deserve a say, not only on whether to raise taxes but whether part of the increase should be spent on mass-transit options including TRAX and heavy-rail communter lines.
The County Commission passed a resolution Tuesday that would commit all funds from the proposed tax increase to highway construction. That would be a shortsighted solution.
The list of roads that need to be built or widened - many of them are state roads that the Legislature has bumped from its priority list - is so long, commissioners reason, there will be no funds left to hook into the mass-transit systems that their sister counties to the north enjoy.
There is a definite need for a fourth lane in each direction on I-15, as commissioners have said. But roads are like closets. No matter how many you have, they soon fill up with clutter and you need to build more, unless some of the clutter gets recycled.
Vehicle "clutter" accounts for about 80 percent of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and volatile organic compounds in the air. Getting people out of their cars and into commuter trains would help reduce that unhealthy pollution.
Unfortunately, Utah County is in catch-up mode. In 2000 Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties passed a quarter-cent sales tax increase for mass transit to meet an expected 76 percent increase in travel as the tri-county population jumps 54 percent in the next 25 years.
Similar growth is expected in Utah County, where traffic is so heavy in many places that the temptation to just build roads is understandable. But it should be resisted as an expedience that, alone, will not solve the problem .
County commissioners should get at least one foot aboard light and commuter rail. Over time, it's the best antidote for slow-moving parking lots.
