02/07/2022 - Minutes (2) SALT LAKE CITY
TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD
Minutes of the February 7, 2022 Meeting
Electronically present from the Transportation Advisory Board were Courtney Reeser,
Daniel Mendoza, Dave Alderman, David Parrott, Ellen Reddick, Greg Sanchez, Jenn
Diederich, Jim Espeland, Jon Larsen, Kerry Doane, Myron Willson, Paul Schulte, Reid
Ewing, and Suzanne Stensaas.
There were no members absent from the Transportation Advisory Board.
Also present were Amy Lyons, Danny Brewer, Tyler Schmidt, Julianne Sabula, Lara
Handwerker, Becka Roolf, and Dave Iltis.
The meeting was held electronically and was called to order at 4:o2p.m. by Courtney
Reeser.
Welcome and Introduction of Guests — Courtney read the anchor statement and
welcomed everyone.
Public Comment — There was no public comment.
Motion: Dave Alderman moved to approve the minutes of the December 6, 2021
meeting. Kerry Doane seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Motion: Suzanne Stensaas moved to approve the minutes of the January 10, 2022 joint
TAB/BAC meeting. Dave Alderman seconded the motion. The motion passed
unanimously.
UTA Updates
Kerry Doane, UTA
Kerry reminded the Board what she talked about last year and shared several updates
for the current year. Jay Fox started on January loth as the new UTA Executive
Director. He has been involved in all scopes of transit and is also an attorney. Kerry
reminded everyone that all transit is free this month and asked those in attendance to
spread the word and consider trying it out. With the new UTA on demand, citizens can
get 10 free rides until March 1st. The rides are Monday through Saturday from 4 a.m. —
12:15 a.m. and on Sundays from 6:oo a.m. to 9:oo p.m. It is a corner-to-corner service
so it won't bring you to your driveway but will drop you off at a corner near your house.
After Free Fair February, it is $2.50 one-way, and you can transfer to or from other
modes of transit. You can download an app to request a ride or call the UTA on Demand
number which is 385-217-819i. The boundaries are approximately 230o North to 2100
South and 2200 West to 30o West. She showed current data for the On Demand service
including ridership and the average length of trips. Suzanne said she is very excited
about this service and hopes they really get the word out, so the program succeeds. Reid
did his dissertation on a similar program and would like to look back once UTA has
reached a steady state and see how cost effective it is. Kerry will report back on that at a
Page 1 of 5 TAB 02-07-2022 Minutes
future meeting. She said there was a goals and scenario development workshop for the
Future of Light Rail phase 2. The 4 scenarios they looked at have slight changes in the
routing of the lines. She shared some of those scenarios. There will be a testing phase
where they try to find trends that suggest a singular strategy to move forward with.
There are also operations simulations that look at whether a scenario can actually work
as well as ridership forecasting using a regional demand model to determine which
scenarios carry more passengers. There will be more public information on that soon on
UTA's website. UTA received a RAISE Planning Grant which is a federal grant used for
planning purposes and for which they will study the connection between the U of U,
Research Park and the SLC Central area. This study is about how land uses will connect
to the track and is coordinated with the Future of Light Rail within a specified area
designated in the grant application. Kerry gave a Five-Year Service Plan update and said
there will be a change day in April. They will open a Vineyard Station on the Front
Runner system which will extend Route 834. In August of this year, there will be the
introduction of Route 1 in Rose Park and Route 209 will be extended to the Avenues.
She said the Avenues routes will get reworked a little bit to make it more efficient. UTA
has cleaned up their system map for Salt Lake, Davis,Weber, and Utah County. Their
hope is the maps are easier to use and they can be seen on UTA's website. The Hive
Pass which began in March 2014 is still going with an average of 30O users per month
taking an average of 13,000 trips per month. Kerry gave updates on some projects
outside of SLC including a Weber State rapid transit bus, a Davis to Salt Lake County
Connector, Mid Valley service connecting the Front Runner to SLCC and then on to the
West Valley Hub, a Point of the Mountain Project connecting Draper Front Runner
through the State prison site and to Lehi, and a South Valley Transit which is Front
Runner to Payson with a bus to Santaquin.
Federal "bipartisan infrastructure law"
Jon Larsen, SLC Transportation
John gave an overview of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It is a $1.2
Trillion dollar bill over a period of five years. There are many transportation related
funding opportunities which are in the form of competitive grants on a national level.
He went over the grants that SLC may be eligible for. Transportation is putting a lot of
thought and effort towards finding opportunities that match federal grants with projects
they are already planning to do so they can get as much money as possible to help fund
the projects. Jon also explained the State Transportation Investment Fund(TIF) and
the type of projects those funds are typically used for.
Union Pacific Impacts on Active Transportation
Danny Brewer, Union Pacific Employee
Danny introduced himself and said there are about 4Oo unionized employees within
Union Pacific and Amtrak. He showed a google earth map with all the railroads in the
state. The average train length is 9,3Oo feet and can be up to 15,000 feet long. As the
trains are getting longer, they are blocking multiple street crossings at a time even when
they are moving. He said there have been a few pedestrian accidents in the last few
months and he would like TAB to help him come up with some ideas on how to keep
pedestrians out of these crossings. There is a pedestrian bridge at 3Oo North, and he'd
like to look at opportunities to do more of that. Danny said he would really like to ask
the city to help him put up some cameras at certain locations and possibly have that in
an app so people can take another route and avoid that delay. Courtney said she
believes that is something the TAB could support, and possibly write a letter of support.
Page 2 of 5 TAB 02-07-2022 Minutes
Danny said he is working on legislation nationally to make the trains shorter but longer
trains make more money and the trains have priority at crossings. He feels if there were
cameras to assist people in choosing an alternate route, it might also help the federal
regulators see the impacts of longer trains. There was further discussion about how the
cameras would be managed, the amount of time the trains are blocking intersections,
how to communicate that information in real time to the public, and how delaying
pedestrians and cyclists will disincentive active transportation. Courtney is going to
connect with Danny outside of the meeting and see if they can come up with some
solutions for how the city and the railroads can work together. Danny said having
cameras would also help train operators be able to see if there were pedestrians or
cyclists in the area or trying to cross through a train and might help mitigate the
possibility of injuries.
Report Out
TAB Members
Jim said it seems like the trains on 80o South go the slowest and stop the most during
rush hour and noon hour. If they could schedule them a little bit less or continually
moving during those times, he thinks it would solve a lot of problems with the cars.
Danny said 800 South and 90o South are a real problem. They're building trains there
and there's just no scheduling them. A train can take 2-4 hours to build, and they just
don't know if they're going to be blocking a crossing or not. There probably needs to be
an underpass in that area or a pedestrian overpass included in the 9-Line which is
something he has talked to the City Council about. It is a real problem, and they don't
want to be blocking those crossings, but are basically pulling out of the yard at io miles
an hour and can't go any faster. He's seen a lot of people jumping in front of or through
the train there and there are a lot of kids because there is a bike park right there. Reid
said the U of U is doing a couple of studies on transit agencies whose ridership has gone
up and recovered quickly from Covid. They started interviews and their ridership was
going up when everyone else was going down from changes in development patterns.
People from the transit agency said they densified their centers which is the whole idea
behind Wasatch Choice for 2050. The other study they're doing is on the S-Line and it's
impacts, and they have started interviewing developers in the area. This is part of
another study; one is funded by UDOT and the other by UTA. Interestingly, it turns out
that both zoning and the S-Line account for the $2billion worth of investment in that
corridor. He'll talk more about the findings of these studies later. Paul wanted to give
everyone a heads up that they will be rebuilding their School District office in the next
two years which will impact traffic in the area. Courtney said she'll touch base with
Danny and talk about possible railroad solutions at the next meeting.
TAB WebEx Meeting Chat
from Courtney Reeser to everyone: 4:15 PM
UTA on Demand number is 385-217-8191
from Jim Espeland to everyone: 4:3o PM
The area west of Redwood from 800 S to 2100 S has increased in density immensely in
the past io years. If UTA planners haven't been in the area recently, they will be
surprised.
from Sabula, Julianne to everyone: 4:33 PM
Research Park is a funding partner, which is why we are looking at that area.
Page 3 of 5 TAB 02-07-2022 Minutes
from Sabula, Julianne to everyone: 4:34 PM
RP has a transportation management association that connects to major transit stops.
from Jim Espeland to everyone: 4:45 PM
Jon mentioned that UTA and SLC Nanning is striving to connect the east and the west.
The new Route 9 has not had much ridership, but it is a great route connecting Redwood
Road to the University.
from Greg Sanchez to everyone: 4:54 PM
Will there eventually be a summary of projects that are "chasing" funding or projects
that have received federal funds?
from Larsen, Jon to everyone: 5:02 PM
We can do a follow up with a list of projects that could be a good candidate for Fed
grants
from Roolf, Becka to everyone: 5:12 PM
Parallel to I-15, train tracks are the primary barrier at i7oo S, goo S, 800 S, 200 S, 300
N. There are viaducts at the other crossings: 2100 S, 1300 S, 600 S, 50o S, 40o S, N
Temple, 600 N.
from Myron to everyone: 5:17 PM
naive question here: are there limits on the amount of time that a crossing can be
blocked?
from Roolf, Becka to everyone: 5:18 PM
Add i800 N/ Chicago
from Roolf, Becka to everyone: 5:19 PM
The other streets all have freeway interchanges to contend with. And 600 S / 50o S are
freeway on-ramps.
from Dave Iltis to everyone: 5:20 PM
Part of the solution needs to be working with UDOT to improve those crossings along
with N. Temple, i3oo S, etc.
from Greg Sanchez to everyone: 5:2o PM
my biggest concern is that the train companies are not likely to pay, when I think they
should actively invest in the surrounding communities. Wondering, did UP put any
money into the 30o N bridge or was the mostly/all city money?
from Myron to everyone: 5:22 PM
Per Greg's comment, the only long-term solution is to have ped-friendly bridge at
defined intervals
from Larsen, Jon to everyone: 5:22 PM
UP is paying $5ook towards the 30o North bridge. The total cost is just under $6M. the
funding is coming through State, Federal, City, and WFRC funds
Page 4 of 5 TAB 02-07-2022 Minutes
from Larsen, Jon to everyone: 5:22 PM
The project was delayed 1 1/2 years working on the agreement with UP
from Dave Iltis to everyone: 5:23 PM
Not just that but improving all of the existing ped/bike crossings over existing bridges.
It's cheaper to improve existing bridges than build new ones, metaphorically too.
from Suzanne to everyone: 5:24 PM
to UTA at 2100 S and 1300 East, Major intersection of two lines and i did not see any
bus bench or shelter. Need to add asap.
from Suzanne to everyone: 5:25 PM
Any advocacy you could bring to above-curb bike facilities on 13th E would be amazing.
Trying to push Lynn to make active transit possible from 21 S to Millcreek along 13th
(since it'll be redone in next couple years).
from Ellen Reddick to everyone: 5:26 PM
Thanks, Courtney, for all you do -we appreciate you.
from Suzanne to everyone: 5:25 PM
Any advocacy you could bring to above-curb bike facilities on 13th E would be amazing.
Trying to push Lynn to make active transit possible from 21 S to Millcreek along 13th
(since it'll be redone in next couple years).
from Dave Iltis to everyone: 5:3o PM
ioo S. has a defacto road diet that seems to be working well. Unfortunately, it's not
permanent.
Motion: Courtney Reeser motioned to adjourn the meeting; Kerry Doane seconded the
motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 5:32 p.m. and
the next meeting of the Board was scheduled for March 7, 2022.
Approved by TAB o4-04-22
Page 5 of 5 TAB 02-07-2022 Minutes