A recent Utah Foundation Study found that 82 percent of Utah’s cities and 95 percent of Utah’s counties believe current transportation funding is simply insufficient. Approximately $180 million is spent annually to preserve $25 billion in roadway infrastructure assets, including pavement and bridges. But UDOT has projected that an additional $67 million per year will be needed to maintain the statewide transportation network to the standard Utahans have come to expect.
Additionally, as the Wasatch Front and other regions grapple with increased growth, we must make transportation investments to improve our air quality. Already, transit takes 120,000 daily car trips off the road. And active transportation programs like GreenBike | SLC Bike Share have removed 571,000 vehicle-miles-traveled annually from Utah’s roads.
There are a number of proposals the Utah Legislature is considering to meet these needs including increasing the current motor-fuel tax, making regular adjustments with variable rate and/or modernizing a fixed per gallon gas tax to percentage or what economists call an ad valorem tax.
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