Utah
When transportation spending was last reauthorized, rather than hike the gas tax to maintain current spending, Congress diverted general fund revenue. A program to study alternative revenue options was created so states could launch pilot projects.
Transport Topics
Feature
The plans, they are a-changin.
An annual reports finds a growing number of homelessness in Utah. That information, coupled with mistakes in earlier reports, casts doubt on the state's record of success in housing vulnerable populations.
Place
State preemption, in the form major zoning reforms and mandates for local housing targets, are on the table in the Utah Legislature this year.
The Salt Lake Tribune
Four mayors hammer home the point that moving to 100 percent clean energy on the municipal level is environmentally, economically, and politically desirable.
Next City
It was not your basic fuel tax hike. Utah voters were told that raising the tax would help education by redirecting revenue from the General Fund to schools that currently goes to transportation. Yet voters also passed decidedly liberal initiatives.
Deseret News
Newly obtained documents reveal the extent of the state's efforts to strip protections from federal lands around the United States.
Pacific Standard
UTA's Bus Rapid Transit Line is yet to be completed but, by removing fares, the service has quintupled its ridership.
The Salt Lake City Tribune
Californians will determine whether to repeal recent fuel tax and user fee increases; Missourians to vote on a 10-cent gas tax hike over 4 years; Coloradans whether to hike the sales tax, and the most interesting measure will be decided in Utah.
Governing
In "America's Eviction Badlands," universities are developing web apps to help tenants stay in their homes.
CityLab
A federal grant meant to reduce congestion will make bus travel from Provo to Orem free until 2021.
The Salt Lake City Tribune
Rather than projecting when the 50 million milestone will be reached, demographic and political indicators predict the state's population is more likely to decline, according to Joe Mathews of Zócalo Public Square.
Zocalo Public Square
But is it high enough? Everything is relative, and with the prior toll being only a buck per zone, the hope is that $2, which took effect Saturday, will cause some motorists to carpool to keep speeds at 55 mph during peak hours.
The Salt Lake Tribune
Utah has generally made room for single-family homes in the past, but the Salt Lake Tribune thinks its time for new plans as the state faces demographic changes and worsening affordability.
The Salt Lake Tribune
Cheap water flows freely to the golf courses of St. George, Utah, but all the new residents mean it’s going to have to increase supply or reduce demand—or both.
CityLab
Shipping coal from Utah to export to Asia through a new cargo facility in Oakland, California took a significant step forward on May 15 with a strongly worded ruling condemning the adequacy of the city of Oakland's environmental analysis.
KQED: California Report
As the Department of the Interior auctions off 'vast swaths' of American wilderness to oil and gas companies, fiscal conservatives and conservationists alike wonder if it’s the right thing at the right time.
Houston Chronicle
Though he’s opened land all over the U.S. to industry, the Interior Secretary is actually pushing to conserve even more of his home state.
The New York Times
Dan Vock of Governing takes a broad look at congestion pricing, beginning with the success of Virginia's 66 Express Lanes, the ones where tolls initially topped $40. Notwithstanding complaints, managed lanes are spreading, but challenges remain.
Governing
Among other substantive reforms, Senate Bill 136 changes the name and branding of the Utah Transit Authority.
Fox 13
