Utah County needs transit

Utah County's leaders are, understandably, shy about the costs of bringing rail transit into their midst. They are stewards of taxpayer funds, and they appear to consider that an important trust, which is correct.

But by stubbornly ignoring transit alternatives, they could be relegating future county residents to the necessity of paying even greater costs. This is a case where solid growth-planning would pay dividends.

This issue bubbled to the surface again this week as the Deseret Morning News published a two-part series on commuter rail, which is scheduled to make its debut along the Wasatch Front in 2008, nearly a decade after TRAX first came online. While the system is expected to provide quick and comfortable commutes between Ogden and Salt Lake City, it won't go to Utah County any time soon. County leaders there have steadfastly refused even to put a measure to fund such a thing on the ballot — despite the fact people in Davis and Weber counties voted years ago to support it.

County commissioners say they don't want their constituents to begin paying now for something that — even if it were approved today — wouldn't become a reality in Utah County for between 7 and 10 more years.

But the alternative is for Utah County residents 10 years from now to pay drastically in other ways for a congestion problem that could have been alleviated a bit by some long-range planning today. According to some estimates, the interchange of I-15 and Alpine/Highland will have a 2 1/2-mile backup during rush hour 10 years from now. Already, traffic is slow along that corridor during peak hours. In spite of freeway construction, the need is likely to outstrip the available asphalt.

Utah County will learn what commuters to the north have learned — that it is impossible to keep paving your way out of traffic congestion.

In the meantime, bus ridership is up 85 percent in Utah County over the last five years, according to the Utah Transit Authority's statistics. Much of that comes from people who take express buses to jobs in Salt Lake County. The Wasatch Front, from Utah to Weber counties, has become one metropolitan area, with a population that travels, shops, works and seeks entertainment among all the counties.

The least Utah County officials could do is allow people down there to vote on whether they want to spend more today for a rail system tomorrow.