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Megalopolis: Urban sprawl slowly blurs Wasatch Front towns, cities

Are the banks still lending money on all this new construction? I thought we were in a world of hurt. Which is it? I guess the contractors really do have nothing to worry about.

The USA is adding 2 million people annually to its population as a result of immigration alone. The changes in the Salt Lake area is a choice we've made, consciously or not, in large part as a result of this country's immigration policies. Because - as we all know - we "need" growth.

And where will it end? I'm 32 and I can still remember when Draper was farm country and Herriman was nothing and when Southowne Mall couldn't get tenants.

Where will we be in another 25 years? Where will we get the water to feed the needs of the people?

Welcome to the misery you've created for yourselves.

You go away for 24 years and what happened? Ogden used to be the second biggest city in the state and now it is Provo.

Soon we will have a bunch of empty houses
No jobs to meet demand and the pay sucks too
This is fron Ignorant City Council trying to get more money from taxes
The Country side is disapearing
These people need to buy existing homes in the City, Not ruin the Country

What the article is describing is what has happen in the SF Bay Area for the last 30 years. There is one big difference though. The Bay Area had room to expand North, South, East and West and a first class mass transit system. We are only now looking at mass transit and we only have I-15 and 215, with Legacy coming on, but Legacy will only mitigagte an ongoing problem. If you think air quality sucks now, and commute time, wait for another 20 years, or even 10 years. Also, the SL Valley is very much like the LA basin surrounded by mountains forming a bowl or valley. Look for Wastch Front to become very much like LA in the future. Now, when are we (and I include myself) going to pull our heads out of the sand and look for answers to the problems we are facing?

It would be helpful if people would change their attitudes. Right now everyone needs a house with an acre of land. People need to quit fighting high-density housing. With higher-density housing we could have more open space. Also public transportation could be made more efficient.

We need a new model for living in the future. The "Ponzi Scheme" model for eternal growth is not sustainable. We have had lots of growth in the Salt Lake Valley, over the 33 years I've been here, and it's not a better place to live. Traffic, air pollution, housing prices and sprawl have all increased with no appreciable corresponding benifits.

Jeff is right. For some reason many people believe that they need a huge yard and few neighbors, which only increases the urban sprawl. Smaller plot sizes would do a great deal maintain the countryside. An efficient mass transit system is also important; it is good to see the state and local governments working on building the mass transit system now rather than wait until a real mess has been created (try driving in Atlanta or Southern California).

I do take issue with the title of this article. The Wasatch front is not a megalopolis. It only has 2.5 million people - relatively small population size compared to most major cities. Kolkata, India occupies a similar-sized area but has 15 million; Jakarta (larger land area) has 23 million; Tokyo 32 million; New York 19 million; etc. Each of those cities constitutes a megalopolis. The Wasatch Front does not.

This topic has always been so interesting to me, it looks like to me the wasatch front is at a pivotal point in planning for the future, the decisions now are what will determine the quality of life for the masses in this corridor in the future.
I think UTA is doing a great job right now getting on track with Mass Transit.

It is my God given right to a McMansion on a 1/2 acre lot and 6+ kids. The rest of you quit overpopulating and developing the countryside!

Since when was SF able to expand to the West. I thought that was where the Pacific Ocean started. I lived in the North Bay area many years ago and there was a sense of community. It was definatly a bedroom community though. My father worked in SF and it was a 2 hr commute to travel 52 miles (and that was on an express bus). Growth is inevitable, but let's work on managing and directing growth rather than letting groth manage us.

Yep, you've all been robbed. I've heard less whinning from nanny goats. Get over yourselves. Change is the one thing that allows us to improve. When you're green you grow, when you're ripe you rot. We have millions of square miles of open space. Quit you're whinning. Go 10 to 20 minutes in any direction and you're in prestine mountain or desert country. Yep you've been robbed. And don't tell me that if things continue the way we are going that those areas will be threatend...you'll just prove you're ignorant. Remember millions of square miles...millions.

People in this culture need to stop having so many children and take some responsibility.

Most people agree that high-density housing is a necessity in large cities. And yet most people are unwilling to give up their own backyards to live there. Let us not relegate to others what we ourselves are unwilling to do. If you feel strongly that suburbs are a problem, then leave your own single-family dwelling. This issue is rife with hypocrites.

Caliutah? Oh no not another Utahn who has an idenitity crisis and thinks Utah is like California. Hello!!! Do you need a reference of california to make your point? California is nothing like utah in the terms of culture,size,diversity, and everything else. LA has more people than the state of Utah, Idaho, Montana combined. YOu really think that Provo will grow to that size? That's ridicoulis.

So Doc,your God now

Once I took time and thought about returning to Utah. I traveled back once a year and I saw what I once liked ruined.

It's Biblical: casting peals before whine. You can lie to yourself s about progress. I grew-up in a crime free Utah. You can't drive a few minutes and find pristine anythings. Moab is marred with black tire marks.

I realized that moving to Utah would be like living here in California with a rotten climate, judgmental neighbors and a backward culture.

To: Doc We can have as many children as we want.
I've lived in the Salt Lake area all my life. People moving in here from other states (many, many from Calif) come here and then start complaining about the state. (not that I'm saying you are not a native of Utah). I just hope that there will be room in the State for my grandchildren.

Yes there are millions of square miles, but people need more than land to live on. They need water. Tell us where that is going to come from.

I have noticed that people complain about the problems in Utah and yet still try to fight change.

This is what urban areas do. They grow. Now do you want to be the tangled, weedy mess that SoCal grew into? Or the beautiful urban garden that the SF Bay Area turned out to be? The Wasatch Front can still add millions more people while preserving plenty of open space, having clean air, and having enough water to go around.

People who ask "How?!!" are thinking in terms of the current paradigm. Think beyond that. Think of an urban area with efficient, wide-spread mass transit; dense residential units such as apartments and condos; and plenty of high-rises. Efficient mass transit can cut emissions substantially. Dense residential units and high-rises can preserve more open space and add double the water available for use by eliminating grass lawns.