UTAH COUNTY REGIONAL GRID STUDY

Benefits of Regional Grid System

A functional regional transportation system offers enough roadways to alleviate congestion and improve travel times.

Mobility & Connectivity

Good street connectivity redistributes traffic providing more options and better accessibility for all modes, particularly cars.

More direct routes generate fewer vehicle miles traveled (VMT) than conventional suburban networks by allowing travelers to choose alternate, often more direct, routes to destinations.
This reduction in travel delay provides a layer of convenience to users by allowing them to avoid potential hazards, such as construction or congestion, and increases reliability of the network overall.

We don’t have enough arterials and continuous collectors in the network
We expect too much from these roads and they are overburdened
End piece:
- How you can use the mapping tool to see these benefits in your area

Safety

A well-connected network offers better safety for all users and enhances the community’s overall health compared to a system with less connectivity.

By providing the correct combination of arterials and collectors, you are able to keep vehicles with higher travel speeds on regional roads that are designed for that purpose.
Similarly, local traffic is free to utilize smaller local roadways for their intended purpose without the added congestion and increased risk of collision that comes with mixing travel types.

A redundancy in the network improves safety through a reduction in response time for emergency medical services (EMS) vehicles by shortening the physical distance emergency responders must travel.

Some studies have shown that connectivity improvements alone have saved cities from having to build a new fire station by increasing the area one fire station could cover by reducing travel times. (Saratoga Springs Case Study)
If we do include this, let’s make sure we have a case study for each benefit

Improved EMS access (by providing multiple routes, the ability to bypass delay, speeding up response time)
Alternate routes – spreads out traffic and reduces conflict point
Local can stay local / reduce the “mix use” roads

Economic Vitality

Gridded networks are good for job growth, property values, and market accessibility.

With greater connectivity comes increased access to the local and regional economy.
Creating connections that increase access options to local business draw regional visitors stimulating the economy of the area.

On a regional level, improved connectivity reduces travel times, resulting in something called market accessibility.

Market accessibility estimates how accessible jobs, services, and education are to households. Good market accessibility is good for business, creating a stronger draw for both employees and employers.

Increased access = increase economic vitality
The mapping tool will let you see “X number of homes can access this business with the improved connections from the gridded network”