The Story
By 2050, the downtown areas of larger cities like Salt Lake City, Provo, Ogden, and Sandy thrive with the addition of jobs, shopping, and housing, mostly in high-rise buildings. Outside these downtowns, we continue the development trends of the last twenty years, with most suburban communities composed of single-family homes (with few apartments, townhomes, homes on small lots, etc.) because these communities mandate minimum lot sizes that limit what developers can build to satisfy the market demand for a variety of housing types. In the downtowns where smaller units are welcome, lack of available land forces the construction of high-rise buildings that cost considerably more per square foot to build, making units too expensive for many.
New roads and some public transportation carry commuters to the densely populated downtown areas. In these downtowns, people can walk, bike, take public transportation, or drive short distances to their destinations. Everywhere else, housing is generally separated from jobs, shopping, and public transportation, so most people drive longer distances.
In the downtown areas, there is excellent access to connected parks and trails, while parks and trails are sparser and more disconnected in suburbs.
Results
- Total new developed acres: 322,000
- Households within one mile of a center with daily services: 29%
- Housing mix: Does not match what Utahns will need. High-rise units in downtowns and large-lot homes in suburbs are too expensive for many Utahns.
- Total new local capital infrastructure costs: Infrastructure costs may be lower in the downtowns to offset higher per unit costs in the more spread out suburbs.
- Wasatch Front households within a half mile of high-frequency public transportation: 53%
- Transportation investment: mostly roads, moderate transit.
- 7.9% of commute trips on the Wasatch Front are on public transportation.
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Background
How we build our communities and link them together affects our day-to-day lives. It determines how quickly and easily we can access work, shopping, and recreation and what mode of transportation we take to get there. How we design our communities also affects household costs, taxes, and other expenses.
When communities are organized so that people live close to shopping, jobs, and recreation, people need to drive less, which in turn reduces travel times, the cost of building and maintaining roads, household transportation costs (gas, car maintenance, etc.), and air pollutants.
When communities are more spread out, roads, pipes, and other utilities must stretch farther to reach each household and thus become more expensive to build and maintain. In addition, more spread out communities take away more of our farmland and open spaces.
The topic of Transportation and Communities partially or significantly affects Utah in many other topics:
- Agriculture is affected by how many farms must be sold to accommodate expanding communities.
- Air Quality is affected by how energy efficient our buildings are and our transportation choices.
- Recreation, as well as our health, is affected by whether or not we have walkable/bikable communities and sufficient trails and parks.
- Disaster Resilience is affected by how we construct buildings and whether or not we build in areas prone to earthquakes, floods, and fires.
- Housing and Cost of Living are affected by how well communities supply the types of housing Utahns want and can afford; by the cost of building roads, pipes, and other infrastructure, which impacts how much Utahns pay in taxes, utility bills, and fees; and by how easily Utahns can walk, bike, take public transit, or drive short distances—all of which impact household transportation costs.
- Energy is affected by the energy efficiency of our buildings and by our modes of transportation.
- Water is affected by how many farms are converted to homes and businesses; by how big our yards are and how we landscape; and by how much agricultural water is taken for homes and businesses.
- Jobs and Economy are affected by all of the above aspects of urban growth.
