Through bringing together stakeholders such as state legislators, city leaders and business owners, the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Transportation & Infrastructure Committee works to identify priorities for the valley’s future transportation needs and determine how those priorities can be addressed and moved forward. It serves as a voice of collaboration and reason in solving Utah Valley’s complex infrastructure needs.

The increase in population our valley has experienced during recent years — and the accompanying increase in traffic — has brought to the forefront specific transportation challenges and infrastructure limitations in our area. These need to be addressed, but, of course, funding limitations prevent everything from being corrected at once.

Currently, the Chamber’s Transportation & Infrastructure Committee is working to identify the county’s five top transportation project priorities. The committee is doing this in conjunction with local legislators, city and county officials, and the Mountainland Association of Governments, which serves as Utah County’s Metropolitan Planning Organization.

A set of criteria describing how to identify the top-priority projects is being formulated and a list of possible projects compiled. The plan is to have the top five selected prior to the beginning of the 2024 Utah legislative session. The Chamber of Commerce will then work with legislators to obtain funding for these projects.

The committee will also be part of a Mountainland Association of Governments project to evaluate Utah County’s roadway grid network with the goal of improving residents’ ability to navigate throughout the county. This study was made possible through approximately $1 million in funding allotted by the state Legislature to MAG and the state’s other three Metropolitan Planning Organizations (representing Northern Utah and urbanized areas in Cache and Washington counties).

The road grid system in Utah County is inadequate, resulting in many drivers utilizing Interstate 15 instead of local street options. Cities here that were once isolated have expanded toward one another independently, leaving room for improvement in some connections between them.

The study will examine what an ideal grid network would look like in Utah County and what could be done to create new or correct existing corridor connections.

Another aspect of the study will be an examination of jurisdictional ownership over roads in the county. This will include working with transportation partners and local governments to ensure that ownership and oversight of local roads is assigned in the best, most practical way.

Infrastructure and transportation are continual issues in any community, and the Utah Valley Chamber’s Transportation & Infrastructure Committee is working to help ensure these issues are addressed in the ways that best suit the needs of Utah Valley residents and businesses.

Michelle Carroll is the chair of the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and executive director of the Mountainland Association of Governments.