This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A new national study worries that America is falling behind other countries in improving transportation because of recession-forced budget cuts, but says the country might reverse that by copying the example of the Salt Lake metro area.
The Urban Land Institute and Ernst & Young released an annual report on Monday looking at how governments globally plan and build key infrastructure projects, and repeated warning of recent years that America is falling behind as budgets are cut in tough times.
But it added, "Despite fiscal constraints, Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Salt Lake City have successfully moved projects forward" — and suggests that other areas look at how they did it.
The report says those metro areas managed to have local governments "pool resources and gain concensus in planning and spending strategies," which allowed them as a group to achieve some top priorities together instead of fighting among themselves over conflicting goals and halting projects.
In Utah, the study praised how cities, counties and planning agencies in the Salt Lake metro area backed the Utah Transit Authority's expansion of its TRAX light rail and its FrontRunner commuter rail — including supporting voter approval of a sales tax increase to help fund them, and cutting bus service to afford expansion of rail as the recession cut sales-tax revenues.
UTA is expanding TRAX from 19 miles to 40 miles, including opening the West Valley City and Mid-Jordan lines this year, along with upcoming extensions to Draper and Salt Lake City International Airport. It is also expanding the FrontRunner commuter train from Salt Lake City to Provo.
About that, the study said, "Local officials seem undaunted by the fiscal storm clouds: they look for savings in reduced bus service through neighborhoods served by the new light rail lines." It added that such creativity is needed elsewhere to keep top projects moving forward.
"America's unwillingness to confront its infrastructure challenge is undermining the ability of our urban areas to compete globally," said Urban Land Institute President Maureen McAvey. —
Read the study
O The study is titled "Infrastructure 2011: A Strategic Priority." It is available online > uli.org.