From Deseret News archives:
'Megapolitans' may be facing mega troubles
But now, as the Wasatch Front and four other "super regions" of the Intermountain West begin to come of age, it's time to set the "lone cowboy" ideal aside.
According to a newly released report from the Brookings Institute studying the growth and potential impact of the Wasatch Front, Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas and Albuquerque "megapolitan" regions, the Intermountain West is America's new, new frontier. But it won't survive unless it pulls together and gets some help from the federal government.
"We celebrate the Western 'can do' spirit, but these places can't do it alone," said Mark Muro, policy director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institute. "They in themselves can't knit the whole Southwest together with state-of-the-art transportation linkages, freight corridors and major shipment routes. They can't stabilize immigration or set up a national carbon reduction framework and climate change response. We want Washington to do the things it can do and empower these places to solve problems."
But pervasive challenges threaten to defeat the West before it ever arrives, unless changes are made. The area needs a more complete transportation network with roads, high-speed trains and intercity rail, the report says. Better regional planning that is not as heavily car-dependent and integration of immigrants are needed. A unified conservation effort toward water and electricity limited resources in the West are a necessity, according to the report.
Failure of the government to help resolve these challenges could be catastrophic for the whole country, according to Brookings Institute nonresident senior fellow Robert Lang, who participated in the study.
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