The Transportation Coordinating Committee recommended that the Wasatch Front Regional Council approve an amendment to the existing 2024–2029 Transportation Improvement Program and adopt the 2025–2030 Transportation Improvement Program and its air-quality conformity finding during its Aug. 15 meeting.

The action, taken by unanimous voice vote, moves dozens of locally and state‑sponsored highway, transit and active‑transportation projects into the region’s short‑range program and forwards the TIP for statewide review and federal approval.

The TIP is the six‑year, fiscally constrained schedule of highway, transit and active‑transportation projects for the Salt Lake and Ogden‑Layton urbanized areas. Ben Withrowicz, WFRC staff lead for the TIP items, said the TIP covers “the short term or the near term, the 4 to 6 year programming and projects where the funds are available, the projects are moving forward.” He told the committee the TIP represents billions of dollars in investments across the Wasatch Front.

Committee members reviewed a board modification package that adds funding or changes scopes on many projects. Selected changes highlighted during the meeting include:

- Sandy: a pedestrian‑bicycle overpass and sidewalk connections at SR‑209 (90th South / Quarry Bend). The board modification adds active‑transportation funds and shows a total project cost of $9,900,000.

- Salt Lake City (300 North & State Street): conversion of an at‑grade intersection to a roundabout; design funds held previously were $300,000 and the request adds roughly $2.2 million to reach construction.

- Cottonwood Heights (Bridal Boulevard / Highland Drive): engineers’ 30% design raised the estimated cost to $3,100,000. WFRC programming currently covers about $2.1 million; the city is requesting an additional $891,000 to close the gap and provide its local match.

- Transit first/last‑mile projects (TIF): 13 projects in the WFRC area were presented, with approximately $4.7 million of TIF funding in the Wasatch Front and roughly $21 million total for those projects after local matching.

- Community project funding (CPF, formerly earmarks): WFRC identified seven CPF projects in the region totaling about $21 million in CPF awards; those projects are part of larger programs that together seek roughly $107 million in total project funding.

- Large highway projects: an I‑15 interchange/1800 North reconstruction project adds about $196 million in funding, yielding a total estimated cost around $384 million; the Shepherd Lane/I‑15 interchange and pedestrian overpass was shown with an additional funding request of about $3.6 million to accommodate future widening and double‑tracking; a US‑89 pavement/reconstruction project in Box Elder saw a roughly $4 million addition bringing an estimated total near $58 million; and an I‑80 auxiliary lane / SR‑36 northbound lane project in Tooele was presented with a $10 million addition for a total near $37.9 million.

Committee materials show many other local intersection, pedestrian, bicycle and transit projects across Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, Utah, Box Elder, Morgan and Tooele counties. The full set of board modification tables and the TIP draft tables are part of the meeting packet submitted to the Regional Council.

Public input and review: WFRC opened the draft TIP for public review and comment from July into early August. Staff reported about 375 comments in total: roughly 250 project‑specific comments via the interactive map, about 100 general comments via the form on the map, and about 20 comments recorded at two in‑person open houses in Salt Lake and Ogden. Ben Withrowicz said staff will respond individually to public comments over the coming weeks and incorporate appropriate changes in coordination with project sponsors, UDOT and UTA.

Staff also disclosed a technical issue with the interactive comment map: the map’s scheduling used Greenwich time and automatically closed on Aug. 2 local time rather than the advertised Aug. 3 close. WFRC reactivated the map and left it open additional days; staff noted that the formal public review period met the 30‑day legal requirement (staff said the period had run 32 days before the premature shutdown) but acknowledged the discrepancy with the advertised schedule and pledged procedural fixes.

Air‑quality conformity and risk: the committee approved forwarding the conformity finding to the Regional Council with the draft TIP. Members discussed ongoing state‑level work with the Division of Air Quality, UDOT and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Andrew Gruberg, WFRC executive director, explained the technical challenge: “over 80% of the pre‑ozone precursors are so‑called background ozone, meaning it’s not man made from Utah,” and that the Intermountain West’s higher background ozone complicates conformity work. Staff told the committee a freeze of TIP amendments could be imposed by EPA as soon as October under certain scenarios, but that state agencies are pursuing revised state implementation plans and the committee’s view was that an October freeze is unlikely; the timeline is expected to push into 2025 if additional federal review is required.

Actions and next steps: Transcom voted to recommend the Regional Council approve the board modification to the 2024–2029 TIP and to recommend adoption of the 2025–2030 TIP and the associated air‑quality conformity finding; both recommendations were unanimous. The committee also recommended the Regional Council approve the required federal self‑certification that the regional planning process complies with federal regulations; that recommendation was unanimous as well. After Regional Council approval and the statewide compilation with other MPOs and UDOT, the package will be submitted to federal highways and federal transit for review.

Several committee members and staff emphasized the collaborative work among WFRC, UDOT, UTA and local governments to combine funding sources, reduce construction impacts and realize cost savings where projects overlap. Ben Withrowicz told the committee the TIP represents the region’s priorities and the projects “are being planned and programmed now because it is the right thing for our community,” not because of the Olympics or a single event.

Votes at a glance:
- Motion to approve minutes of the June 20 meeting: adopted (voice vote).
- Motion to recommend Regional Council approval of the board modification to the 2024–2029 TIP: recommended (unanimous voice vote).
- Motion to recommend Regional Council adoption of the 2025–2030 TIP and air‑quality conformity finding: recommended (unanimous voice vote).
- Motion to recommend Regional Council approve the self‑certification of the regional planning process: recommended (unanimous voice vote).

Staff said they will post responses to all public comments and continue coordination with UDOT, UTA and state air‑quality agencies as the TIP moves through Regional Council and federal review. The Regional Council is scheduled to consider the resolutions in the coming weeks.