UDOT’s Move Utah program hosts an annual summit to talk about getting more people walking and biking. This year we asked Scott Shea–former Provo resident–to share his thoughts about the event. Check out his thoughts below:

“What would you put in the community of your dreams?  Would it be safe, clean, friendly, and active? Ultimately, ideal communities have the best Quality of Life. Most people consider the method we use to get from point A to point B just a means a method, but if you ask what the Sweden Transportation department does for work they respond – “Travel agency.”  Great communities focus more on the journey and the experience of moving through their community.  

One example of how we are improving the journey: We reached the 1 yr. anniversary of UVX bus rapid transit. Utah Valley University reported selling 1,200 fewer parking passes this year than the year before – freeing up a ton of land to be devoted to something better than parking stalls! UVU can improve the quality of life experience on campus by devoting less time, money and effort to parking, and more of it to students!

Utah is no longer trying to move vehicles – they are trying to move people. 

To do that, they have 4 goals: 

1.       Good health

2.       Strong economy

3.       Better mobility

4.       Connected communities

When considering transportation improvement projects, UDOT weighs the project against these 4 goals, and ultimately ask “Is the project contributing to the quality of life?” One giant improvement that Utah legislation is doing in SB-34, is allocating funds for transportation improvement projects that can be directly applied to active transportation projects.  No longer does a bike lane need to tag along on a roadway project!

Several speakers and many breakout sessions focused on these 4 goals, and how to build better communities using infrastructure to improve quality of life. We can look forward to many more active transportation improvement projects! Our goal now should be to show how people are using these projects to improve their Quality of Life.”