Author Biography

Trenton Douglass is a fourth generation Aggie and wants to major in Accounting. He loves writing essays and driving forklifts. He spends his free time outdoors hiking and cycling with his friends and family. Trent enjoys studying history and looking at art, he especially appreciates public art.

This essay was composed in April 2023 and uses MLA documentation.

My earliest memories include air pollution, my dad used to watch the news while we ate breakfast, the TV would declare a red air day and we’d be stuck inside all day at my red-brick elementary school. Utah’s population has grown by over half a million in the ten years since I had scheduled recess (U.S. Census Bureau). With increased population comes increased traffic and air pollution. Air pollution is responsible for between 2480 and 8000 premature deaths in the State, and economic costs reach up to 3.3 billion dollars annually. (Errigo 2020). Air pollution in Utah extends beyond smoggy winters, “two of the most damaging pollutants in this region … O3 and PM2.5 show generally opposite seasonal patterns, with O3 highest from May to October and PM2.5 highest from October to March” (Errigo 2020). PM2.5 is the technical term for fine particulate matter, meaning that it is smaller than 2.5 micrometers. O3 is a technical term for ozone, which is the combination of three oxygen atoms, it occurs naturally in the upper atmosphere but it can be created by emissions.

There is no one solution to air pollution, but it’s clear what the state is currently doing isn’t enough. The Utah Department of Environmental Quality published an article talking about air pollution, one of their suggestions for what individuals can do to reduce air pollution is to use public transportation. (Call 2022). Utah, like the majority of states in the Western US, developed around automobile-focused infrastructure. Greater investment in public transportation, specifically an expanded passenger rail system, will benefit the citizens of the state of Utah by reducing air pollution, providing social and economic improvements, and reducing traffic.

One of the pitfalls of the current UTA system is a lack of expansion, stations are far enough from where commuters live that their commute would be made much less efficient by using the passenger rail. The UTA passenger rail system only exists from Ogden to Provo, leaving out other population centers, such as Logan or Saint George. The group Utah Rail Passengers Association thinks that the State would benefit from passenger rail lines going to tourist destinations like Moab, and that rail lines would provide beneficial transportation opportunities to rural communities and college students. (Kearl 2019). The three major colleges in Utah, the University of Utah, Brigham Young Univerity, and Utah State University, connected by a passenger rail system would be incredibly beneficial. I have friends who live in Provo that I only get to see once every couple of months because of the time commitment and travel costs. The Utah Rail Passenger Association says that passenger rail systems lead to increased access to job opportunities, this of course makes sense, both in jobs created to operate and maintain a light rail, as well as connecting workers to jobs that might have previously been unfeasable because of transportation concerns.

There are many proposed solutions to these problems, UDoT has been researching a driverless car program. In my mind, most of these proposed solutions are over-complicated or will only delay the traffic and air pollution problems, that being said, development and operating costs are the biggest stumbling block for an expanded passenger rail in Utah. Although the State of Utah recognizes Air Pollution as a problem, UDoT continues to add more lanes to the highways and roads in its jurisdiction. Ten years ago they spent 1.7 billion dollars improving 24 miles of I-15 and 270 million in a project that added two lanes to 15 miles of the Mountain View corridor (Fryer 2013). The Wasatch Front Regional Council is planning on spending 15 billion dollars on its roadways, and only 5 billion on transit. (“Regional Transportation Plan” 2021). More lanes on I-15 have obviously not solved the traffic problem. Nations and cities have been developing and building passenger rail systems for more than a century it is a simple solution, perhaps not as visionary as driverless cars, but far more practical.

Passenger rail systems result in 84% fewer carbon emissions (Dickens 2022). Forty-eight percent of fine particulate matter in the air comes from vehicles, and combustion engines contribute to large particulate matter as well. Oxides of nitrogen and carbon monoxide come almost exclusively from cars. (Call 2022). Cars contribute to more problems than just air pollution, “many scholars have expressed concerns about the role of automobile use in societal problems, including low physical activity and associated health problems, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and some cancers.” (Werner 2016). As the population of Utah continues to grow we have the unique opportunity to turn away from automobile-focused infrastructure and the problems associated with it. A recent passenger rail development in Salt Lake included more than just the rail itself, “the street along the light rail corridor was redesigned to appeal to non-automotive modes of travel as well as automobile users. Among other changes, the street received the new rail line, 10-ft wide sidewalks along much of the route, safer bike paths, reduced traffic speed and fewer lanes.” (Werner 2016). Another study conducted on a new light rail system in Salt Lake sought to research the claim that transit riders have a lower body mass index than those who did not use public transit, according to the study, “A round trip on transit typically involves 4 walks or bike rides to get to and from the transit stop, making transit use a form of active transportation … [transit systems] have land-use patterns that may invite other forms of healthy behaviors, such as additional walks to businesses that develop around transit or social capital from having neighborhood gathering places … Our findings underscore the benefits to health conferred by transit use.” (Brown 2015).

An effective passenger rail system will lead to reduced traffic. A study conducted on new light rail systems in mid-sized, cities with populations from one hundred thousand to a million, European cities found that these new systems led to a seven percent reduction in traffic congestion (Fageda 2021). Measuring reductions in traffic congestion can be difficult for experts because populations are always fluctuating, however, a study conducted on the light rail system in Denver, found, “The three light rail corridors in operation have succeeded in lowering the rate of increase of level of traffic within the influence zone. Though the total traffic volume has increased within the influence zone since inception of light rail, it has increased at a lower rate of 31% when compared to 41% outside the influence zone” (Bhattacharjee 2012). An influence zone is the areas that are serviced by the light rail. As the population of Utah increases, the level of traffic congestion is going to increase, Utah should follow the example of Colorado and invest in an extensive passenger rail system.

The RTD light rail in Denver is a good example of an expansive passenger rail system, it stretches from Boulder to the North to Lone Tree in the South, a region with a population of over 3 million, connects three major colleges to downtown Denver and the airport, and has twelve lines with seventy-eight stops (RTD 2023). This system costs more than 700 million dollars a year in operating costs and requires subsidies from sales tax to cover those costs. (Minor 2019). Salt Lake and the rest of Northern Utah generally experience more extreme and longer winters than Denver, so operating costs for a similarly sized passenger rail system would likely be higher.

Some states struggle to carry out infrastructure projects because these projects are usually done regionally and fall under the jurisdiction of regional authorities. interestingly, this has not been the case for Utah, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas published a Study titled The Utah Model: Lessons For Regional Planning. “The model has used a combination of political savvy and public education to affect a shift in the attitudes that people have about sprawl. Instead of being on the receiving end of a regional authority, most public entities have voluntarily, and on their own timetable, adopted new zoning or other regulation that encourages choice in the housing market, including affordable housing and multifamily housing, denser and more connected neighborhoods, as well as transit-oriented development coordinated with the construction of the transit system.” This means that a project like the one proposed by the Utah Rail Passenger Association is possible if the funding can be acquired, and the public supports it.

Support for an expanded passenger rail system could vary. Air pollution is a fact of life for many people who live in Utah and results in a lack of motivation to change, however, I believe that the novelty of rail travel could be the incentive that Utahns need to use public transportation. The bus is a sign of poverty, reserved for the poor and the unfortunate college student who didn’t bring a car with them, beyond that, it’s really no fun to take the bus. A study was conducted during the construction of a new light rail in Salt Lake to determine if new passenger rails attract new public transportation users or if people who already use public transportation switch over to using the light rail. This is a really important thing to consider because investing in an expansive passenger rail system would not accomplish a reduction in air pollution if the passenger rail does not reduce the number of people traveling by car. The study found that the new system succeeded in attracting new riders (Werner 2016). Voters in Denver in 2004 voted to raise the sales tax to fund their passenger rail system. (Minor 2019). I suspect that many Utahns, although they hate traffic, chose to commute by car because passenger rails have not been a viable or practical option. These preconceived notions of rail commuting, shaped by the insufficient UTA system, might be hard to shake. The neighborhoods in Salt Lake that have easy access to the light rail would likely support more expansion. With Utahns being, on average, less liberally minded than the people of Denver, funding a rail system through increased taxes is likely to cause outrage, their support might be dependent on receiving federal subsidies or other alternative funding.

Trains were one of the first products of the industrial revolution to solve the land transportation crisis, and they are such an elegantly simple solution. As technology improved and the automobile grew in popularity we moved away from depending on trains for transportation, but it’s time to go back. I’m not suggesting we outlaw the automobile, or destroy the billion dollars of infrastructure developed to support them, but in order to quell air pollution an expanded passenger rail system in the State of Utah will only bring benefits, it will be expensive, funds will likely have to be diverted away from highway widening projects, but it will be worth it. Air pollution will reduce and as a consequence, our health will improve and we will see economic benefits, the passenger rail system will create greater transportation equity, and everyone will spend less time in traffic. The bureaucrats in charge of the Utah Department of Transportation need to stop encouraging flashy solutions and publishing articles with vague and hollow rhetoric about the great strides they are making in solving air pollution and traffic. They need to act for the good of the State and the people and expand the passenger rail system.

Works Cited

“2019-2050 Regional Transportation Plan.” Wasatch Front Regional Council, 1 Feb. 2021, https://wfrc.org/vision-plans/regional-transportation-plan/2019-2050-regional-transportation-plan/.Bhattacharjee, Sutapa, and Andrew Goetz. “Impact of Light Rail on Traffic Congestion in Denver.” Journal of Transport Geography, Pergamon, 15 Feb. 2012, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692312000129.

Brown, Barbara B., et al. “Transit Use, Physical Activity, and Body Mass Index Changes: Objective Measures Associated With Complete Street Light-Rail Construction.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 105, no. 7, July 2015, pp. 1468–74. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.dist.lib.usu.edu/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302561.

Call, Bo. “Understanding the Sources and Causes of Utah’s Air Pollution.” Utah Department of Environmental Quality, 14 Feb. 2022, https://deq.utah.gov/communication/news/understanding-utahs-air-quality.

Dickens, Matthew. 2022 Public Transportation Fact Book. Vol. 73, American Public Transportation Association, 2023.

Errigo, Isabella M., et al. “Human Health and Economic Costs of Air Pollution in Utah: An Expert Assessment.” MDPI, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 18 Nov. 2020, https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/11/1238.

Fageda, Xavier. “Do Light Rail Systems Reduce Traffic Externalities? Empirical Evidence from Mid-Size European Cities.” Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, Pergamon, 12 Feb. 2021, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920921000353.

Fryer, Brian. “UDOT Wraps Up Work On Its Largest Projects.” ENR: Engineering News-Record, vol. 270, no. 12, Apr. 2013, p. MT26. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=87469776&site=ehost-live.

Kearl, Jocelyn. “Utah Rail Passengers Association – Why?” URPA Primary Color, Utah Rail Passengers Association, 1 Apr. 2019, https://utahrpa.org/why.

Minor, Nathaniel. “Fares Don’t Cover the Price of Buses and Trains. That Leaves Rtd a Big Budget Dilemma.” Colorado Public Radio, Colorado Public Radio, 19 Dec. 2019, https://www.cpr.org/2019/09/25/the-report-that-rtd-uses-to-judge-its-own-success-is-here/.

U.S. Census Bureau Quickfacts: Utah. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/UT/POP010210.

Werner, Carol M., et al. “Evaluating the Attractiveness of a New Light Rail Extension: Testing Simple Change and Displacement Change Hypotheses.” Transport Policy, vol. 45, Jan. 2016, pp. 15–23. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.dist.lib.usu.edu/10.1016/j.tranpol.2015.09.003.

“Who We Are.” RTD, https://www.rtd-denver.com/who-we-are.