With several rural lawmakers offering their support for the measure, the Utah House of Representatives passed a bill Friday 61-11 that would expand the scope of the inland port, a massive distribution hub planned for Salt Lake City’s westernmost side.
HB433, sponsored by inland port board member and House Majority Leader Francis Gibson, looks to shift the development from its focus on a single site in the state’s capital to a multisite approach that would include rural areas across the state.
In the so-called ‘hub-and-spoke’ model, Salt Lake City would serve as the hub, while other interested communities would make up the spokes — an effort to make it easier for communities with exports to clear international customs.