July 16, 2020 – In tonight’s Emigration Township meeting, the council approved 11′ vehicle travel lanes throughout the canyon. This has the effect of creating 1′ more for bicycles in each direction in much of the canyon, especially from the Donner Monument/Emigration Township line to the fire station. This would allow for full bike lanes in 1.69 more miles of the canyon, and more room for cyclists throughout.
Several cyclists spoke in favor of narrow travel lanes including Rob Macleod, former chair of the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee, Dirk Cowley, world champion master cyclist, Blaire Tomten, Chair of the Salt Lake County Bicycle Advisory Committee, George Chapman, community activist, and Dave Iltis, Editor for Cycling Utah.
David Brems proposed the motion which passed unanimously.
The motion also included a directive to study the possibility of adding 1 foot buffers between the vehicle travel lane and the bike lane or shoulder. Note that depending on the width of the shoulder, there is room for standard bike lanes, or just shoulders if the width is less than 4′.
Additionally, the plan for Emigration calls for signs to give cyclists 3′. Signage design will be revisited and likely based on current UDOT standards.
The road is currently being reconstructed. The paving project, approved by the Salt Lake County Municipal Services District (MSD) will cost $3 million.
[Editor’s Note: Cycling Utah worked tirelessly on this advocacy issue. We are very happy with the outcome.]
I find cycling in Utah and especially Salt Lake County to be especially dangerous. The traffic speed is high and the attention level is nonexistent. We do have the Jordan River Trail, however bridges and plank roads weren’t build for bikes, strollers, walkers, to close together. They really need to be widened. On the weekends it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Salt Lake does have some nice trails and offroad trails. However the city fathers must start riding their bikes and discover the wonders of dogs off leash, inattentive drivers and poor road conditions like garbage on the side of road, cracks everywhere and little to no bike lanes. Having been hit by a racing club in Southern California and suffering broken bones and lung problems, I’m very aware of the problems road cyclist suffer from.