Basically what's been said above - easiest way to picture it is as an optional third blind that UTG can elect to pay. Some games allow an overstraddle or restraddle too, which is an optional fourth blind that UTG+1 can elect to pay.
Each straddle should be double the size of the bet behind it so an UTG straddle should be 2BB and an UTG+1 restraddle should be 4BB.
As has been pointed out above too, the reason players (smart ones, at least) straddle is to encourage action in the game - not because they think it'll be advantageous to them to have last action preflop when they're out of position and the pot is artificially inflated.
This is why some players (Phil Laak or Phil Hellmuth on High Stakes Poker, for example) will only agree to straddle if the majority of other players are straddling as well. If that's the case, it means they pay the extra money when they're out of position but they're guaranteed that the pot will also be bigger when they're back in position again. Other players (degens like Eli Elezra, Tom Dwan, etc) are willing to do it whether the other players do or not and figure the image and other benefits are worth the cost.