Lehi residents stuck in I-15 traffic or priced out of the housing market will get a chance to hear policymakers debate those problems at a regional summit Thursday.

The Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce hosts its sixth annual Growth & Prosperity Summit on Nov. 12 at Utah Valley University's Sorensen Student Center Grand Ballroom in Orem, according to the Chamber's announcement. The program runs 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., with check-in at 7 a.m. Breakfast and lunch are included with registration.

The agenda centers on five questions: I-15 congestion and commute times, whether the next generation can afford homes here, water conservation, energy grid capacity and workforce development.

Those issues hit close to home. Lehi City's own transportation planning page has warned that the city's roads provide western communities their only access to I-15. The page, last updated in May 2024, noted that roads such as 2100 North and Pioneer Crossing exceeded capacity shortly after completion because growth projections fell short.

Who's speaking

Natalie Gochnour, director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, will deliver a keynote. Charles Marohn, founder of Strong Towns, a national organization focused on helping communities become financially resilient, is also on the program. Former Gov. Gary Herbert is scheduled to speak as well.

Curtis Blair, president and CEO of the Utah Valley Chamber, said in the announcement that the summit aims to get ahead of growth challenges.

"We need to manage growth before it manages us," Blair said.

The numbers behind the pressure

Utah County added roughly 100,000 residents in five years. U.S. Census Bureau estimates put the county at about 759,859 in 2025, up from a 2020 base of 659,392. The Gardner Institute's 2026 Economic Report to the Governor projects the county could roughly double to 1.5 million by 2065, according to Lehi Free Press reporting in July.

The Provo-Orem-Lehi metro area had a median household income of $101,014 and a median home price of $572,450 as of mid-2026, the Lehi Free Press reported, citing a Ziffy.ai analysis. Statewide, a Gardner Institute housing report found Utah's median single-family home price reached $520,000, the Deseret News reported in September.

Housing affordability scored last among 20 quality-of-life factors in the 2026 Utah Community Quality of Life Index, a joint effort by the Utah Foundation, the Utah Chamber and the Gardner Institute, the Deseret News reported in October. The index's overall score fell to 63 out of 100, its lowest since the survey began in 2011.

The summit follows the Chamber's Oct. 21 launch of the Utah Valley Regional Alliance (UVRA), a coalition of business, government and civic leaders focused on long-range regional planning around infrastructure, housing and transportation, according to a GlobeNewswire release.

Registration is open at the Chamber's website.