For decades, Millcreek was an unincorporated part of Salt Lake County, and that meant our roads were largely at the mercy of county priorities. Unincorporated areas like Millcreek were left with less attention, fewer resources, and budgets that stayed flat year after year, even as inflation climbed and traffic steadily wore down our streets. 

When Millcreek incorporated, residents celebrated the promise of local control. But we also inherited a tough reality: 179 linear miles of aging pavement and a maintenance backlog built up over decades. It didn’t take long for road conditions to become one of the most common frustrations in our community—potholes multiplying, asphalt cracking, and surfaces deteriorating faster than we can patch them.

Even today, the challenge continues. Millcreek still lacks a dedicated Public Works crew for road maintenance and relies heavily on a county contract for services—an arrangement that hasn’t been enough to keep our roads in the shape residents deserve.

At the same time, fuel-efficient vehicles are shrinking gas tax revenue, even as road repair costs rise. Inflation, Utah’s freeze-thaw cycles, and aging asphalt are accelerating the damage. Many roads now need full reconstruction, but too often we can only afford temporary fixes—band-aids until long-term funding is secured.

After inheriting 179 miles of poorly maintained roads, Millcreek has struggled to keep up. Over the past decade, the city has used pavement preservation treatments as much as possible. However, funding from the gas tax keeps dropping as vehicles improve in fuel efficiency, and road treatments keep getting more expensive due to rising inflation. Fewer roads are treated each year as a result. In 2024 and 2025 the city council allocated $1 million from the general fund to help plug the hole and band-aid some deteriorating roads. Despite this additional funding and winning some grants to help, cracks in our roads persist. Residents rightly feel frustration, feeling that the road treatment is inadequate or that they've been neglected. 

We want to improve every single road in Millcreek, but with our current funding levels, it will take more than 50 years to address all of them, and that's only if we can keep up on maintenance treatments! We're running at a pace where the condition of our roads has passed their lifespan. The current path is unsustainable.

But this problem is not a dead end. Millcreek city leaders are committed to finding solutions.

You might be thinking, “If pavement treatments are temporary, why not just replace the roads completely?” Boom—problem solved, right? The reality is, under our current budget, replacing all our roads would take more than 300 years. That’s not realistic.

Roads work a lot like a roof or a car. If you fix small problems early, it costs a little. If you ignore them, the damage spreads and the cost skyrockets. A tiny crack in asphalt lets water seep underneath. Over time, traffic and weather weaken the base materials. What could have been a simple treatment turns into full reconstruction.

That’s why pavement preservation matters.

Before surface treatments are applied, crews seal large cracks to prevent water and debris from damaging the foundation below the asphalt. After that, surface treatments seal smaller cracks and restore the pavement’s flexibility as it weathers over time. 

• Slurry Seal (~$0.30 per sq. ft.) protects roads 5–7 years old with minor cracking.

• Micropaving (~$0.50 per sq. ft.) adds traction and can extend road life by about 10 years.

• Mill and Overlay (~$3.00 per sq. ft.) removes the top layer and applies a thicker asphalt overlay, extending life up to 10 years. 

With over 28 million square feet of roads to maintain—and about 70% in need of serious reconstruction—smart, preventative maintenance is the most cost-effective path forward.

*Sourced from: City of San Diego Transportation Pavement Management Plan, pg. 14.

Good news: our cars are getting more fuel efficient! Vehicles in 2000 got only 16 miles per gallon, while cars sold today are 60% more fuel-efficient. A quarter sold today are either hybrids or EVs that don’t require any gas!

Bad news: because of this trend, the money from the gas tax, which has been the primary way to pay for road maintenance, is shrinking every year. Today, what Millcreek receives from its share of the gas tax covers only half of our road maintenance contract, forcing the city to spend an increasing share of General Fund dollars for roads. 

This is bad. Gas tax is supposed to pay for roads. Our property taxes go entirely to Unified Police. The city General Fund (sales tax dollars) has to cover everything else. Making things worse, electric and hybrid vehicles with their dense batteries are much heavier than non-EVs and put more wear and tear on the roads.

This is also unsustainable. Vehicles will keep getting more fuel efficient. Within a decade, half of all vehicles sold will be electrified to some degree. This trend is wonderful in so many ways, but it spells disaster for how we fund our roads. The gas tax is melting and cities across Utah are scrambling to figure out how to keep pace with deteriorating infrastructure.

Cities across Utah, including Millcreek, are grappling with the implications of these changes as they navigate deteriorating infrastructure and reduced funding. In light of this pressing issue, we must explore potential options for moving forward. Here are three potential roads forward:

STATUS QUO: Millcreek can continue to operate with current funding, acknowledging that the gas tax will continue to shrink. The good news? We won’t incur additional costs. The downside is that major road projects will only happen as we get grants. Otherwise, we will address obvious problems, such as potholes, and emergencies, such as sinkholes. Road maintenance will sink further and further behind, becoming a problem for future generations to solve. 

GENERAL OBLIGATION BOND: This option requires a citywide vote and functions like a mortgage for Millcreek. The immediate benefit is a cash infusion to tackle our pressing road issues. On the downside, the average Millcreek homeowner would face annual payments for several years to service the bond. Additionally, this would only provide a one-time fix without addressing ongoing maintenance needs. 

TRANSPORTATION UTILITY FEE (TUF): This increasingly popular tool in cities throughout the state and country would assess a monthly fee on all property owners, including business and non-profit organizations, to generate funding. The upside is that this approach offers a sustainable, long-term solution to bridge the funding gap and address crumbling road conditions within the next 10 to 15 years. However, it would also come with a modest monthly cost for the average Millcreek owner.