The Utah Trails Network initiative envisions connecting every corner of the state with a system of paved, multiuse trails.
Summit County Active Transportation Planner Senta Beyer said the county’s east side could benefit from the program, which was given an initial $95 million in May 2024.
The first step toward funding, whether state or local, is mapping out future trails.
“Eastern Summit County, we don't have many lines on a map, so we need to get those lines, and we need to prioritize some of those connections,” she said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Oct. 22.
Beyer is helping organize an active transportation plan for the county. It has already incorporated feedback from nonprofits such as Wasatch Trails Foundation, South Summit Trails Foundation and Mountain Trails Foundation, as well as the Stay Park City Cycling club.
She said the planning team has also had discussions with every eastside city and town, plus unincorporated Wanship.
“We called them ‘walkable audits,’” Beyer said. “We met with local officials, community stakeholders, and really just took a look at what their communities look like today, what they want to be, some improvements that they would like to make.”
Now the county wants to hear what everyone else thinks the future of active transportation should look like locally, through an online survey. Beyer said it’s open-ended and encourages anyone with a stake in local trails to participate.
“We are going back, taking a lot of the information that we collected, going to put the pen to paper,” Beyer said. “We have a great steering committee that we've assembled, and the idea is to come up with a plan and some recommendations.”
Beyer added they’ll present final recommendations to the Summit County Council in spring 2026, then update it every five to seven years.
One of the only paved trails on the east side is along state Route 32. It’s long been envisioned to connect Oakley to Kamas to Francis, but isn’t finished yet.
Construction on the path may resume since Summit County’s mayors approved a mitigation plan last month for the wetlands that stalled it.
Summit County is a financial supporter of KPCW.
