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[VIDEO] How did Utah build miles of transit and raise state transportation funding?

How did Utah leaders and citizens stare down a recession while raising new state revenues for transportation and making a range of investments to bolster the economy and quality of life? On day two of our Capital Ideas conference on November 16-17, Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes will be on hand to answer that question and others.

Click the video above to hear a few nuggets from Capital Ideas keynote speaker Speaker Hughes about his state’s approach to building consensus for new transportation investments.

Back in 2015, the Utah legislature voted to raise the state’s gas tax and tie it to inflation, and provide individual counties with the ability to go to the ballot with sales tax increases to fund critical local transportation priorities — which ten Utah counties approved a year ago.

Republican House Speaker Greg Hughes has been on the front lines of these efforts to raise new state funding, empower local communities and build a huge regional transit system nearly from scratch in Salt Lake City. In addition to Speaker Hughes, hear from an expansive roster of other speakers at this year’s Capital Ideas conference.

Don’t miss out on these conversations. Join us in Sacramento on November 16-17 for Capital Ideas. Register now and reserve your spot!

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Come a day early for the first national Complete Streets conference

A reminder that Street Lights: Illuminating Implementation and Equity in Complete Streets will be taking place on the day before Capital Ideas begins. Get two great conferences out of one trip to California — register today to secure your place in the room.

While Congress punts on sustainable funding, local communities approve a slew of new transportation taxes on election day

In a striking contrast to the actions of Congress when it comes to transportation funding, a handful of local jurisdictions went to the ballot this week and approved new taxes for transportation investments.

This week in Washington, while debating a new multi-year transportation bill, the leadership in the House of Representatives blocked the mere mention of raising or indexing the country’s gas tax to pay for a transportation bill currently drawing 30 percent of its price tag from every source under the sun — except for the actual users of the transportation system. No proposed amendments to the House transportation bill that dealt with raising the gas tax were cleared to even receive a debate or vote on the House floor, with House leadership refusing to allow our elected leaders to hold an adult discussion about raising new sustainable revenues for transportation.

Meanwhile, in local communities across the country, even in this off-year election, a number of communities went to the ballot and approved new increases in fees or taxes to pay for numerous ambitious local transportation investments. In at least a few candidate races, transportation became a defining issue in elections between candidates.

One of the most notable victories for new transportation funding occurred in Seattle, where voters approved the extension of a property tax levy to fund the ambitious Move Seattle plan, kickstarting work on seven new Rapid Ride bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors, three new light rail access points, 150 miles of new sidewalks, at least 16 bridge seismic retrofits, and the repaving of 180 miles of arterial streets. We profiled Seattle’s story just last week and shared more about their vision for investing in transportation and transit specifically to ensure their continued economic prosperity:

Seattle making smart decisions today to continue their city’s renaissance tomorrow

Downtown Seattle has become the hot place in the region for companies to locate as employment and growth has accelerated to new highs over the last decade, but limited space downtown could stymie job growth and economic potential if Seattle doesn’t think differently about transportation. READ MORE.

Immediately north of Seattle in Snohomish County, a 0.3% sales tax was approved at the ballot to fund increased bus service, including new routes and more express buses connecting major job centers like Boeing’s Paine Field.

Earlier this spring Utah became the third state in 2015 to pass a comprehensive transportation funding bill, raising the state’s gas tax and tying it to inflation. Utah raised revenues to invest in a variety of transportation modes and also provided individual counties with the ability to go to the ballot to levy voter-approved sales taxes to fund critical local transportation priorities.

Those local votes in Utah counties happened this week, and of the 17 counties that decided to put the 0.25% sales tax increase on the ballot — including the six counties in the Salt Lake City metro and region’s public transit service area — ten approved the measures with at least one still too close to call in Salt Lake County. In the counties served by the Utah Transit Agency, 40 percent of the new revenues will go directly to UTA transit service.

Maine approved an $85 million transportation bond that will provide $68 million for highway and bridge construction and repair, $17 million for ports, rail, freight, aviation, and a share for biking and walking trails.

Along with the handful of Utah counties that rejected their sales tax measures, there was one notable defeat in Salem, Oregon, where a 0.21% payroll tax was rejected. The measure would have expanded bus service, including new evening and weekend service.

Transportation also became an issue in a handful of elections this year.

In Virginia, the state DOT is trying to make the best use of limited capacity on a busy interstate running into Washington, DC by converting a congested section of I-66 from HOV-only to HOT lanes during peak commuting hours. Hal Parrish, a candidate for a state senate seat who campaigned heavily on stopping this plan in its tracks, lost his race in the 29th Virginia Senate district.

The election happened back in August, but in Phoenix, Mayor Greg Stanton was reelected after making the primary focus of his campaign an ambitious plan to invest in transportation with new tax revenues and expand the region’s growing light rail system. As the Arizona Republic wrote, “Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton won re-election in a landslide Tuesday [August 26th], vowing to continue his work to reshape the city through light-rail expansion and redevelopment projects in the once-sleepy urban core.”

Once again, the overall trend continues.

Voters support raising new revenue to invest in transportation, especially when the plan and the projects are clear and transparent. Whether the support from local voters or the state representatives winning re-election after supporting tax increases to invest in transportation over the last few years, Congress would do well to pay attention to this lesson.

Local communities in Utah and beyond will decide their transportation funding fate this November

As November approaches, voters in a majority of Utah’s counties will be weighing a decision to approve a 0.25-cent increase in their counties’ sales tax to fund transportation projects in those counties. This is just one of many notable ballot measures for transportation on the horizon for this fall and next year.

Utah Light Rail 1 Utah’s legislature acted earlier this year to increase the state’s gas tax, tie it to inflation, and provide individual counties with the ability to go to the ballot to increase sales taxes to fund additional local transportation priorities. As of this writing, 17 out of 29 Utah counties have decided to put those measures on their ballots.

The state hadn’t increased its gas tax — the most significant funding source for the state’s roads and bridges — since 1997. Gas tax revenue in Utah, however, is constitutionally limited only to road projects, which requires other source of funding for transit and other important local transportation projects. Utah legislators addressed that concern with a bipartisan compromise to let local voters decide whether or not to raise sales taxes, which are entirely flexible and can be spent on nearly any local transportation need.

With the elections a little over a month away, a statewide advocacy group affiliated with the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce has embarked upon a massive education campaign to educate voters about the benefits of raising new local money for transportation. The group, called Utahns for Responsible Transportation, is launching ads on TV, radio, and the internet, as well as in newspapers and on billboards. The group is also calling and mailing voters directly.

State leaders expect the state’s population to double by 2050, flooding the state’s most populous areas with new residents. This makes sound transportation investments of all types across the board – light rail, commuter rail, bike trails and new, safe pedestrian infrastructure – even more imperative as Utah’s cities add new residents and keep their economies chugging along.

In Salt Lake City’s core counties — including Salt Lake County, Weber County, Davis County, and Utah County — if the ballot measure is successful, a portion of the revenue will go to UTA, the regional transit system that runs light rail, buses and commuter rail in those counties, in addition to funding other local priority projects of any type.

Several others worth watching

Utah isn’t the only place where local voters will be deciding whether or not to tax themselves to raise new money to invest in transportation.There are several significant issues being decided in the Pacific Northwest this year and next.

Sound Transit’s LINK light rail on the Seattle-SeaTac line.

This November, Seattle voters will decide on a $900 million levy to fund five new bus rapid transit lines and complete streets projects throughout the city. In November 2016, residents in the three counties of the Seattle metro area will decide whether to allocate $16 billion dollars to Sound Transit for an extensive expansion of the region’s light rail network.

Just north of Seattle proper, on November 3^rd, Snohomish County voters will decide on a 0.3 percent sales tax increase for Community Transit to improve service frequency, add commuter service to Seattle and the University of Washington, and add new bus routes, among other things.

In Oregon, voters in the Salem-Keizer Transit District are voting in November on a new payroll tax, the proceeds of which will be used to restore bus service on nights and weekends for service between Salem and Keizer.

Outside of the northwest, voters in Indianapolis counties will decide in November 2016 whether to increase local income tax rates to fund an ambitious transit expansion throughout the city and into surrounding counties, focusing first on new bus rapid transit lines.

We’ll be watching the results of these ballot initiatives closely, so stay tuned for updates. We’re beginning to collect a list of other notable measures worth watching, so if there’s one you know of that we should keep our eyes on, let us know in the comments.

Smarter transportation case study #8: Bus Rapid Transit Priority in Salt Lake City, Utah

Rapid growth and a growing tourism industry prompted Salt Lake City officials to bring increased efficiency and connectivity to the area’s bus system.

A rapidly growing tourism industry, increasing diversity and economic growth in downtown prompted Salt Lake City officials to improve mobility options throughout the region. The Salt Lake City metropolitan area has a population of just over one million people, with roughly 200,000 living in the city proper.

Salt Lake City made infrastructure improvements to connect regional bus routes to existing transportation networks, like the regional light rail system. Designed to mimic the efficiency of light rail, the bus rapid transit system leveraged the city’s transportation network to provide convenient and reliable travel options. The MAX Bus Rapid Transit System began in 2008 by incorporating bus-only lanes and track signal priority for buses along the entirety of the system’s 10.8-mile bus route. Buses have the right-of-way at intersections and track signal detection helps turn lights green as buses arrive. Along the most congested portions of the route, buses run in both directions in a dedicated center lane, allowing them to bypass cars. These innovative technologies keep trip travel time to a minimum and hold fuel costs in check, while maintaining a high standard for safety.

The system utilizes payment centers located on the bus, including user-friendly credit card machines, to allow passengers to quickly board the bus through one of three available doors.

The Utah Transit Authority plans to connect all the cities within the region to the light rail network with up to 80 miles of corridor routes within 20 years; 4,200 riders currently pass through the line’s 29 stops every day.

“This has the potential to become a piece of a future transportation spine,” Provo Mayor Lewis Billings said.

The MAX bus rapid transit line has seen a one-third increase in ridership and a 15 percent reduction in average travel time since 2008. The MAX line achieved a 97 percent on-time reliability rating on its very first day of operation, and now saves riders an average of 20 minutes per trip compared to an equivalent conventional bus driving the same route.

The project was awarded a “Smart Solutions Spotlight” from ITS America in June 2010.

For More Information: Deseret News

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Editor’s Note: Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs. Many of these smart transportation solutions are already fueling innovation throughout the country, through both the public and private sector. These 14 case studies from around the U.S. and the world demonstrate the community benefits smart mobility solutions are giving regions, cities, and businesses.

Read the ITS Case Study Series

Local regions serve as laboratories for transportation reform

Salt Lake City's light-rail line. A “comprehensive, but bottom-up approach to transportation” may sound like an oxymoron, but to a panel of regional planning experts on the frontlines of reform, it sounds a lot like common sense.

Tuesday’s briefing, titled “Planning for a Better Future: Lessons from the States on Regional Sustainability Planning” featured experts from three regional laboratories on transportation reform – Sacramento, CA; Salt Lake City, UT (right); and Minneapolis, MN.

The American Planning Association and LOCUS, an association of pro-reform real estate developers, co-hosted the event at the Capitol Visitors Center on Tuesday afternoon.

Regional blueprints, or plans, outline a long-term transportation vision for a region. Metropolitan Planning Organization, or MPOs, typically have jurisdiction over this process, alongside partners at the county and municipal level. One objective of these plans is to lower greenhouse gas emissions through measures like increased transit use and building new homes near jobs.

“Comprehensive, but bottom-up” is how LOCUS President Christopher Leinberger, the event’s moderator, describes a potential direction for federal policy. In essence, the federal government would provide the funding and set the benchmarks, while regional planning authorities make allocations and are expected to achieve significant reductions in emissions.

Panelists stressed that their primary focus is on increasing choices – in transportation and housing – for all Americans. The recent economic recession was fueled in part by an over-supply of single-family homes on large lots. And while ample demand exists for mixed-use development on smaller lots, a combination of lagging infrastructure and policy restrictions have prevented the private sector from moving to meet that demand.

That is why the engagement and support of the business community is so critical.

Natalie Gochnour is the Chief Operating Officer for the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce. Her group’s seat at the table and engagement with a strategic and sustainable vision for the Salt Lake City area led to championing a sales tax increase to pay for 70 miles of light-rail for seven years.

“My message is this: don’t underestimate business community support for new ways of seeing and new ways of doing,” Gochnour said.

Michael McKeever, Executive Director of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, cited a similar dynamic in his area, where the Sacramento Area Chamber of Commerce helped push the blueprint concept in its early stages and has hailed the region’s long-range plan as a signature accomplishment.

Both Sacramento and Salt Lake City have seen substantial increases in transit usage and decreases in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) since beginning to implement their blueprints.

Commissioner Peter McLaughlin of Hennepin County in Minnesota addressed successes in his region as well.

T4 America Director James Corless emphasized that there was no “silver bullet” in regional sustainability planning, but that providing benchmarks and the required funding would result in substantial leaps.

Communities should be asking, “what do we want to look like in 25 years?” Corless said. “That’s the fundamental question.”