The Treasure Valley of west central Idaho where Boise is located is growing rapidly and sprawl is starting to show its ugly face with marked increases in traffic congestions and long commutes to employment centers from new exurbs where housing prices are more affordable. This is similar to what happened south in Utah in the last 25 years. Utah was late in getting into the mass transit mindset, but Utahns have embraced the change making it an unqualified success throughout the Wasatch Front despite heavy costs for development. Its unfortunate Idahoans cannot see the writing on the wall and get a jump start on establishing light rail and HOV corridors in the Boise metropolitan area now while costs are lower. If a mass transit program were to be launched in the next year or so, the Boise area could have a real state of the art system for a lot less money and this would also spur more responsible smart development and greater diverse commercial investment improving the standard of living and quality of life for Idahoans and visitors to the Treasure Valley in the coming decades as enormous population growth is projected in this region resulting in Boise becoming as large as Salt Lake City.*****
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