High Speed Rail – Millar from Salt Lake Chamber on Vimeo.

The Salt Lake Chamber hosted some of the nation’s leading experts on High Speed Rail to discuss the potential for a network of trains exceeding 100 mph connecting Salt Lake City with other western cities like Denver, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

President Obama recently announced $8 billion dollars in funding for high speed rail in the United States. For long range trips, those greater than 600 miles, air travel is still the way to go. There is, however, evidence that trips less than 600 miles are a great fit for high speed rail.

In Utah, we continue to improve our transportation systems by building roads and rails. The next frontier is rail travel between Utah and surrounding states.

High Speed Rail – David J. Carol from Salt Lake Chamber on Vimeo.

Over the past few weeks, Utah has found a comfortable home at the top, or near the top of several lists.  It seems we’re no longer such a “well-kept secret.”

Forbes magazine ranks the commute to and from Salt Lake City as the best in the nation. According to a study released Tuesday, “20% of workers find a way to get to work besides driving alone, which leaves the roads less jammed. It’s not an accident that commuters in Salt Lake have it better than elsewhere. The state of Utah has poured resources into initiatives that strengthen the city’s infrastructure… and [utilized] special road-construction techniques that minimize interruptions to traffic.” (READ FULL ARTICLE)

Anyone who commuted to Salt Lake City from Davis or Weber County before the debut of UTA’s FrontRunner service and the opening of Legacy Parkway can attest to just how much the trip has improved. We’ve all marveled at the ingenious technique utilized by UDOT to build bridges and move them into place without tying up traffic for months at a time. The addition of the Mountain View Corridor and FrontRunner South will provide similar benefits for Utah County residents.

As a Chamber, we consider transportation a top priority and we’re proud of state leaders and the steps they have made to eliminate gridlock and keep traffic flowing. That means businesses can thrive and workers can make it to the office to work, and home to relax. Utah’s transportation system is a significant element of our unsurpassed quality of life.

Earlier this month, Forbes heaped even more praise on our state, recognizing us as the best in debt management. As Derek Miller, managing director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, pointed out: “the state debt is $447 for every Utahn but the national debt is 100 times than figure–$40,000.” (READ FULL ARTICLE)

The responsible fiscal management exhibited by the State Legislature and our governors should be a source of great pride for all Utahns. We live in the best-managed state in the nation. That has helped us weather these challenging economic times better than the rest of the country and it is a major reason we’ll be the first state to emerge from the recession.

Perhaps most impressively, a Gallup poll released last week ranks Utah near the top of the list when it comes to well-being. We finished second to Hawaii so I can only assume the survey was done in January when most of us would rather be in Hawaii. We finished tops in this poll in 2008. (SEE POLL)

Dig into the numbers and you’ll see we scored highest in the Work Environment category based on “job satisfaction, ability to use one’s strengths at work, supervisor’s treatment and cultivation of an open and trusting work environment.”

I’ve been saying it for years: Utah is the best place to live, work and play.

More and more, we have the numbers to prove it.

“If you live in Salt Lake City, Utah, Buffalo, N.Y., or Rochester, N.Y., your ride to work is probably the smoothest of any big city in the country. Residents of Tampa, Fla., Detroit, Mich. and Atlanta, Ga., on the other hand, endure the most grueling slog to work.”

The commute to and from SLC was ranked tops in the nation, thanks in large part to our first-rate mass transit system. Forbes factored in travel time, road congestion and travel delays for the 60 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the U.S.

READ FULL ARTICLE