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Gonot to Lead Santa Clara VTA
Carolyn Gonot, incoming General Manager and CEO, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)
Carolyn Gonot will return to California’s Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) on July 12 this time serving as General Manager and CEO.
Before joining Utah Transit Authority (UTA) in August 2019 as Executive Director, Gonot worked for 23 years at VTA, holding multiple leadership positions, including Chief Engineering and Program Delivery Officer; Chief BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) Program Officer; Chief Development Officer; and Deputy Director, Congestion Management Program.
Gonot is the first woman to lead UTA, where she currently directs and administers a district that spans six counties with an operating budget of $336 million and a capital budget of $255 million. She leads a workforce of more than 2,500 employees and is responsible for operation of three light rail lines, FrontRunner commuter rail, a streetcar line, 120-plus bus rout
SALT LAKE CITY A plan to extend S-Line streetcar and funding for a new mid-valley Salt Lake County rapid transit bus system were just some of the projects approved under a bill that included over $1 billion in state spending to accelerate transportation and other infrastructure projects across the state.
HB433 cleared the Utah Legislature on it s second-to-last day. It authorized $264 million in bonds for specified transportation and transit projects. It also appropriated about $834.6 million in one-time spending from state revenue sources.
Sen. Kirk Cullimore, who served as the floor sponsor of the bill, explained before the legislation passed that it was meant to speed up a lot of projects on the transportation commission list and address other priority projects in Utah.
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Utah Transit Authority officials are reminding passengers to continue to follow federal guidelines for safe travel. This story and more in the Tuesday morning news brief.
Tuesday morning, February 2, 2021
State
Electric Vehicle Fees
A Utah House committee approved a bill Monday that would dramatically increase annual fees for electric and hybrid vehicles starting next year. The idea is to bring those fees closer to what the average driver of a gas-powered vehicle pays in taxes at the pump, which go toward paying for road maintenance. According to the Utah State Tax Commission, the fees would still be less than that average tax payment, but Rep. Suzanne Harrison, D-Draper, said lawmakers shouldn’t use data from mostly gas-powered cars to make policy decisions about electric vehicles. Harrison and other critics of the bill are also concerned about the environmental impacts of making electric vehicles more expensive to own than they are now.
UTA unveils 5-year transit plan
ByWhitney Leland
The state’s largest public transportation agency has begun piecing together a comprehensive plan to meet increasing transit demand, which it plans to present to its governing board today. The Utah Transit Authority laid out detailed plans to state lawmakers last month on how the agency proposes to develop its transportation resources to add more routes using various modes of travel throughout the Salt Lake and nearby valleys.
During a virtual meeting of the state legislature’s transportation interim committee, UTA Executive Director Carolyn Gonot told members about some of the main transit projects planned for the next five years. Director Gonot stated: “We’re looking at funds through the federal transit administration. The president has tweeted in the past about allocating $65.8 million to that project.”