The Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) is responsible for transportation plans, regional visioning efforts, and community and economic development planning within the five-county region of Weber, Morgan, Davis, Tooele, and Salt Lake counties, as well as a portion of southern Box Elder County in some cases.
WFRC coordinates the transportation planning process for the Salt Lake City-West Valley City and Ogden-Layton urbanized areas. The process is comprehensive in nature, addressing all modes of transportation, including roadways, transit, trucking, rail, air, bicycle, and pedestrian.
WFRC is also a key partner in Utah’s Unified Transportation Plan, which provides a statewide summary of anticipated 30-year needs for road capacity and maintenance, transit improvements and operations, and bicycle improvements for Utah’s metropolitan and rural areas.
Two main products are developed through the transportation planning process. The first is the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), which recommends improvements to roadways, transit, bicycles routes, and sidewalks to meet our transportation needs throughout a 20- to 30-year period. The second is the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), which is a six-year capital improvement program for roadway, transit, and active transportation projects contained in the first phase of the RTP. The RTP is updated every four years, while the TIP is approved annually.
Transportation plans are also part of the comprehensive planning for the overall development of the region. WFRC is a major partner in Wasatch Choice Vision, a vision for how we will develop our communities and transportation system to accommodate projected growth along with Wasatch Front, while still maintaining Utah’s great quality of life.
Green infrastructure planning differs from conventional approaches to land conservation or natural resource protection because it looks at landscape ecology jointly with human geography and demographics. Additionally, it brings together a diverse group of stakeholders to help form a scientific and unified planning approach.
The Consolidated Plan for the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program for Weber, Tooele, and Morgan counties is administered by WFRC. This plan is the governing document for the use of CDBG funding from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and identifies goals and objectives for housing, community, and economic development related activities. The Plan is updated annually and completely rewritten every five years.
The Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) is a requirement of the US Economic Development Administration (EDA) and governs the use of funding for local economic development projects. The CEDS is updated yearly and rewritten every five years by the Wasatch Front Economic Development District (WFEDD), a local board comprised of public and private sector representatives from the region.