The Road Ahead: Addressing Millcreek's Crumbling Infrastructure

As Millcreek navigated its journey as an unincorporated part of Salt Lake County, maintaining our roads was a constant challenge, as the county made decisions about how much funding to allocate to unincorporated areas.  Residents of the Millcreek area had little representation in funding discussions.  Incorporated cities, with their greater voice, often secured a larger share of available funding.

When the city incorporated, residents gained greater local control. It has been difficult to address all infrastructure needs because we inherited 179 linear miles of aging pavement and a maintenance backlog that had been growing over the decade before incorporation, when unincorporated areas took a back seat to incorporated cities.Cracked asphalt surface, showing numerous irregular fractures across a weathered, gritty pavement.

For the past decade, one of the most common concerns in our community has been the condition of our roads. Many have expressed frustration over the number of potholes and poorly maintained roads, which have only worsened over time. Since we don't have a dedicated Public Works crew for road maintenance, we continue to rely on our partnership and contract with Salt Lake County. This collaboration encompasses essential services such as pavement preservation, streetlight maintenance, snow removal, and much more. 

Despite our best efforts, rising inflation and weather patterns continue to take a toll on our asphalt. This makes it increasingly challenging to keep pace with the deterioration of our roadways. Many roads now are in desperate need of full reconstruction. Instead, they are receiving temporary preservation treatments, essentially a band-aid, until we can allocate the necessary resources for more permanent solutions. 

As we move forward, we must take a proactive approach to tackling our infrastructure challenges. In the coming months, Millcreek will hold multiple open houses to discuss and find solutions to ongoing road maintenance, ensuring a smoother, safer travel experience for everyone. We'll begin by assessing our current funding, which is insufficient to address the extensive list of roads that require more than preservation. The road ahead may be a little rocky, but together we can pave the way for improvement.

Feb 23

[ARCHIVED] The State of the City's Roads: A Call to Action

The original item was published from February 23, 2026 3:57 PM to February 23, 2026 3:58 PM

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 whenever 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 frustrated, 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.