Strategic Livability Plan for Utah's Scenic Byways and Backways Program
Utah’s twenty-six scenic byways play an important role in the livability and quality of life in the many communities that are located along these well-traveled routes. The Strategic Livability Plan outlined strategies needed to preserve and protect the intrinsic qualities along the byways and to enhance economic development for byway communities through ongoing tourism and other community-based and state agency initiatives.
The Utah Office of Tourism hired a multidisciplinary team led by Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects (L/KLA) to assist with this strategic planning effort. The plan outlined the
best practices for livability and sustainability and identified new and creative approaches to funding enhancements that encourage the many visitors from around the world or around the state to stay longer and spend more time in Utah’s rural communities.
L/KLA, working with the Utah Office of Tourism and local Scenic Byway partners, developed a detailed plan for welcoming and introducing visitors to the state and its scenic byways. The plan included short-term and long-term program goals, program funding models, operating and facility guidelines and strategic marketing initiatives.
In collaboration with representatives from each of the state’s byways and cooperating agencies, L/KLA developed a new vision for Utah’s Scenic Byways to emphasize collaboration among agencies, byways as economic development tools and as opportunities to increase leverage for funding and financing of related preservation and enhancement efforts.