'Megapolitans' may be facing mega troubles

"We think the country is so deteriorating in terms of quality of its infrastructure — that they're so behind — that there will be a moment of shock when the country understands this under-investment will jeopardize its economic development," Lang said. "You would hope that there would be enough at stake that the federal government would gain a recognition of this and realize that this pattern that we're on is at the nation's peril."

Lang and Muro say one way for these five regions to gain the attention of the federal government is to band together — something that's not historically been done in the West, says Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.

"The West is very unique in that regard," Huntsman said. "This is the West, where people go to make their dreams come true and the large expanses of land are unlike anything you find elsewhere in the world, and we don't care much about what those next door are doing. As we continue to grow, we find there are a lot of regional issues that we need to get smart about."

Huntsman, who will speak at a conference on the Brookings report on Tuesday in Denver, says collaboration from this point forward will be key, and that a discovery and implementation of the "best practices" of the region will hopefully be a result.

"I sense that we're all going to be looking over the fence at the others to see how to best address the issues that others are also dealing with," Huntsman said. "I assume (the Wasatch Front) will have some of these best practices that are looked on with envy from others."

While Lang and Muro suggest federal involvement is needed to improve the West's future, they believe that local leaders should be taking the lead on change and moving forward.

Envision Utah executive director Alan Matheson, who will join the governor in Denver, agrees.

"The bottom line is, we have people in this region that care very much about this place, and they're willing to invest their time and their passion and their talents to create the brightest future possible," Matheson said. "We're trying to create the best lives for the people that live here so that we can have the best and the brightest workers in this region to lead us into a challenging future."

---

E-mail: achoate@desnews.com