Imagine having to leave Provo by 6 a.m. to get to work 45 miles away by 8 a.m.

It ain't pretty.

That scenario isn't impossible, considering the population of Utah County is expected to almost double by 2030, while traffic increases even more. If nothing changes along Interstate 15 and the other major corridors connecting Utah County with its more populous neighbor to the north, the results could be nightmarish.

To avoid that, community leaders in Provo and Orem, legislators from Utah County and the county commissioners joined with the Mountainland Association of Governments to form a task force and a vision to allow the county's transportation system to grow with transportation needs.

"I think there were a number of concerned people, no question about that," Provo spokeswoman Raylene Ireland said; Provo officials then began pulling those groups together. "I think that Provo's role initially was simply to contact the other entities and suggest that we pull together and create an independent committee that could review the issues that were important to all of us."

The Transit Vision 2030 was presented at the Provo Municipal Council's meeting on Tuesday, where members unanimously passed a resolution supporting the ideas presented. No final decisions were made, and won't be until funding and a study are completed, but the support encouraged the committee to continue moving forward.

"What we're trying to do is give people choices, an understanding of what's going to come," Ireland said.

The vision includes six options for moving people through Utah County; MAG Transit Coordinator Chad Eccles said most of them focus on moving people from Utah County to downtown Salt Lake City, but there are plenty of suggestions on how to transport people through Provo and Orem and into the south end of the county as well.

The focus is primarily long term, dealing with growth, he said, but there's also an immediacy factor, since I-15, which is already falling behind demand, will be under construction and reduced capacity, most likely in the next few years.

"We need to move people on that corridor," Eccles said; the option getting the most consideration is commuter rail, so people won't need to use the freeway.

The options include corridor preservation, rail service, regional bus rapid transit, local bus rapid transit and local bus service similar to what's already in place. The hope right now is for commuter rail; Eccles said if the necessary groups work quickly enough, commuter rail could possibly get started using the Union Pacific rail lines while a permanent system is constructed. That's already moving forward, as Utah County residents will vote on a quarter-cent transportation tax in the November election; 87 percent of those revenues, if it's approved, will go to a fixed guideway system like commuter or light rail. The rest goes to road construction, bus systems and other transit opportunities. The next step for that, then, is working with Salt Lake County to ensure commuters can get from the county line into downtown Salt Lake City.

The next step for Provo and Orem is raising awareness. Ireland said city officials won't be pushing the ballot initiative, but they will be talking up the need to do something. The city's numbers indicate the quarter-cent sales tax will provide $1.6 billion between now and 2040, which can go a long way toward fixing transportation issues.

"That's a substantial amount of dollars," she said.

They're also looking at Redwood Road being expanded in Utah County and State Street and Geneva Road being widened. Eccles is concerned about one area in particular, when a railroad crossing in Pleasant Grove forces State Street down to two lanes.

"We need to have those capacity restrictions taken care of before we take I-15 down to two lanes each way," he said.

As state roads, the responsibility of working on those belongs with the Utah Department of Transportation, but the cities and MAG involve themselves. Orem city officials are already looking ahead to the widening of Geneva Road and State Street, and City Manager Jim Reams said the city's work on 1600 North and State Street is in anticipation of such growth.

"Most of that's more because of growth in the north end of the county than of growth in Orem," he said.

Heidi Toth can be reached at 344-2543 or htoth@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.