As leaders are finding more budget increases are necessary to keep up with the pace of growth, in many citizens estimations state leaders are not doing nearly enough. The traffic problems during rush hour heading both North and South along I-15 should have been alleviated with the completion of the $1.5 billion dollar construction project before the Olympics. That stretch should have at least another 10 years of life before traffic volume would exceed its size, but estimates will fall far short.

Residents in South Jordan are also voicing their outrage with how slow it is taking for the state to begin building the Mountain View corridor. If the current process of: study, review, environmental impact study, design the finally construction --continues at the current snails pace, it seems that the Salt Lake Valley is heading on a collision course with inevitably more traffic problems.

Better Methods of Curtailing Sprawl

Cities have recently found new innovative solutions to managing both sprawl and road maintenance. The increasing price tag on road maintenance lead three cities to try something different. Chicago, Indiana and Texas are now leasing out several of their major highways to private firms that manage both toll collection and road maintenance. This privatization effort has lead to auctions between private management companies looking to invest huge sums of cash for international pension funds. These firms estimate that traffic will grow at a rate of 3% a year and provide a steady flow of cash for their clients. The most recent lease agreement initiative established by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels auctioned the rights to operate their toll road for a up front payment of $3.85 billion dollars. (source)

The major objection to the privatization initiative is that the management oversight company wouldn't conduct maintenance as well as the state departments of transportation. This objection has proven invalid because typically there is a clause built into these contracts that allows states to take back toll income and highway ownership if maintenance isn't performed to a minimum requirement. Usually the management of these roads over performs on maintenance because their profits depend on exceptional comfort and ease in driving on their freeways.

An Expensive Model

Its clear that Utah and the West cannot continue to grow under the same outdated model that is proven so expensive. The costs of sprawl are not only in road/bridge construction and maintenance but also utility lines, water treatment facilities and sewer systems that need to stretch greater and greater distances. The health impact of pollution has been studied recently and people who live in cities with poor air quality are far more at risk for myriad ailments. Improved transit, urban housing and privatization of highways are all key ingredients curtailing the side affects of sprawl.

In the coming weeks we will have a second installment to this article that focuses on an international comparison, with interviews of Europeans and video footage of some of the best transit and urban designs in the world. For our previous look at smart growth click here.

Raise taxes or initiate toll roads

Utah is already pays a large portion of our general sales tax revenue to sustain roads.(source) Every year since 1990 maintenance costs have been eating up more of the general fund. This has caused lawmakers look at rising gasoline taxes. More gasoline tax hikes will are detrimental to the economy because costs of goods are dependent upon gas prices. Gas taxes also often inflict lower wager earners such as truck drivers, couriers, cab drivers the hardest.

The better solution is to use toll roads or congestion fees. Tolls and congestion taxes are the most pure usage fee and they don't impose excessive taxes on those who aren't part of the problem. The best way to curb the sprawl is impose taxes that will alter commuter behavior, and that is what these taxes are designed to do. (more on congestion taxes)

Affordable Urban Housing

Another solution adopted by Eastern cities has been to offer more affordable housing in and around downtown. Unfortunately the means in which this is accomplished are by imposing price restrictions on landlords for apartments in downtown areas. The side effect of this is always housing shortages because developers don't want to build apartment complexes when they know the government will restrict their profits. An alternative solution is to allow for more mixed use development and loosen zoning laws. Planners should allow apartment buildings to be built taller in current "gray areas" (areas that are blighted or under foreclosure because they are either in poor neighborhoods or they are close to busy streets.)

Transit

The most obvious solution would be to offer more transit options. You have probably heard the slogan, "for every rider there is one fewer car." However, Law makers often point to the statistics of the low usage transit already receives. Higher wage earners rarely will ride UTA buses. However, transit proponents say this is due to the current lack of funding for attractive bus stops, rail stations and easy access transit hubs. Compare transit in the United States to transit in almost any other developed nation and you will find that our transit, especially in the West, is far inferior.