OREM — Rush hour along the Wasatch Front is starting to look painfully familiar to Southern California transplants who fled beaches and bustling cities in search of freer freeways.

"There needs to be an alternative to the freeways," says Jeff Williams, who lives in Spanish Fork. "I used to live in L.A., and as bad as that was, it's worse here."

Williams was one of about 200 people who attended a transportation open house sponsored last week by the Mountainland Association of Governments, the government agency in charge of transportation planning in Utah, Wasatch and Summit counties.

Issues addressed at the open house included Utah County's current transportation concerns, future projects and information about a proposed quarter-cent sales tax increase to be decided on Tuesday at the general election.

If Williams has his way, Utah County voters will pass the sales-tax increase and he'll commute every day from Spanish Fork to Salt Lake City by commuter rail instead of by bus, as he does now.

"I'd give (the Utah Department of Transportation) a couple hundred bucks right now if I could donate to it," Williams said, referring to commuter rail.

MAG representatives would be happy to hear Williams say that.

In fact, they're happy to get the word out any way they can.

The organization recently participated in a KBYU documentary that examines key traffic problems along the southern half of the Wasatch Front.

The documentary, "Who Goes There?" will air Monday at 9:30 p.m. on KBYU Channel 11 or can be seen on MAG's Web site, www.mountainland.org.

Although topics at MAG's open house last week ranged from from lighting on 800 North in Orem to liquefaction of roads in earthquakes, commuter rail was a major issue that brought spectators to the meeting.

"Transportation is certainly of interest to people here in the valley — and should be," said Utah County Commissioner Larry Ellertson. "I think the answer to our transportation problem is multifaceted. I think this, the commuter rail, is one aspect of it."

The rail-and-roads "opinion question" voters will find on Tuesday's ballot is also multifaceted. If voters pass the tax increase, 87 percent of the funds generated will go to a commuter rail project, 8 percent will go to building new roads or widening existing roads and 5 percent will go to increased transit services or a bus rapid-transit system.

According to MAG, the tax increase is expected to generate about $16 million annually and will cost families about $96 more in sales tax per year.

"You look at the reason why we're doing this, it's because the population has grown so much," said Chad Eccles, MAG transportation planner. "For the last 20 years, there hasn't been that growth. We're looking at how we've added capacity, and it's created a sense of importance and a sense of a dire need to go forward with these projects."

For Brad Woods, an Orem biking enthusiast, mass transit projects are good news and a good way to clear the roads for more bikers. He says that even if cars and road expansions are a popular choice, commuter rail could change people's choices.

"There's an old adage that 'If you build it, they will come,"' Woods said. "That is just as applicable with roads as it is with transit options."

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