Wasatch Front Regional Council and Envision Utah have begun what is being called a "visioning process" to determine what role transportation may play in the growth scenarios of cities along the Wasatch Front.
WFRC, the transportation planning arm for a five-county area, including Davis County, and the Mountainland Association of Governments, in Utah County, have hired Envision Utah to develop a consensus of how transportation and other factors related to growth may look along the Wasatch Front 25-30 years from now.
A contract has been drawn up and should be signed within the next couple of weeks.
The process, should take 12 to 18 months. During that time 12-15 workshops will be held to look at the whole picture in terms of long-range planning -- land use planning, growth and transportation, rather than examining each piece separately. Priorities for transportation, funding and land conservation will be a part of the discussion.
Participants will be doing "a lot of what-iffing," according to Sam Klemm, community affairs officer for the WFRC. In the process, there will be plenty of opportunity for public input. Many of the group's conclusions will be drawn from meetings of those most interested in the outcome -- what has been called "stakeholders" in other settings who will share their vision for growth and transportation along the Wasatch Front.