4/3/2023 - Meeting Minutes SALT LAKE CITY
TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD
Minutes of the April 3, 2023 Meeting
Present from the Transportation Advisory Board were Jim Espeland,Jon Larsen, and
Steve Wooldridge.
Electronically present from the Transportation Advisory Board were Daniel Mendoza,
Dave Alderman, Ellen Reddick, Greg Sanchez, John Close, Johnnae Nardone, Julie
Bjornstad, Justice Morath, Leo Masic, and Myron Willson.
Absent from the Transportation Advisory Board were Pat Casey, Paul Schulte, and
Suzanne Stensaas.
Electronically present were Martin Cuma, Dan Bergenthal,Amy Lyons,Julianne Sabula,
Bill Baranowski, Megan Callister, Shane Marshall, Tiffany Pocock, Taylor Anderson,
Becka Roolf, Lani Kai Eggertsen-Goff, and Dan Adams
The meeting was held both electronically and in person and was called to order at 4:13
p.m.by Greg Sanchez.
Welcome and Introduction of Guests — Greg welcomed everyone.
Motion: David Alderman moved to approve the minutes of the March 6, 2023 meeting.
Myron Willson seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Public Comment — There was no public comment.
BAC Monthly Update
Martin Cuma,BAC Chair
Martin said BAC elected a Vice-Chair, his name is Pat Casey and he runs a bike fitting
business in SLC. Pat is excited to be Vice-Chair but will be out of town sometimes for
his business so Martin will supplement him when he's out. BAC agreed on modifying
their website to include the BAC mission statement. The Committee spent most of their
meeting talking about having more engagement with respect to Transportation projects.
Jon's main idea was to make more in person bicycle rides to the project sites with
members of the Transportation division to give feedback and increase opportunities for
the public to add input. BAC and Transportation will try to disseminate the information
of these rides to the public and the members will host those rides close to their districts.
Martin said he would also like to engage Dave Iltis and his e-mail list for Cycling Utah to
announce these rides. Myron thought about the question of individual mission
statements for TAB and BAC and thought the mission should be to follow up with the
City's active transportation and transit plans. He would like to discuss that in a future
meeting and would love to have feedback from staff and other members regarding a TAB
mission.
Page 1 of 5 TAB 04-03-2023 Minutes
I-15 Environmental Impact Statement Study Update
UDOT Project Team
Tiffany introduced herself and her team and said they wanted to give an update based
off what they heard from their alternatives comment period. She gave a quick overview
of the I-15 study from Farmington to Salt Lake City. There was a lot of good feedback on
the alternatives, and they are now headed towards a draft EIS which they hope to
complete in the fall of 2023 and anticipate the completion of the study to be in the
spring of 2024. She went over the most prevalent themes that came out of their
comment period and went through the project phases. The team is available any time
and can be reached at il5eis@utah.gov,www.il5eis.udot.utah.gov, or 385-220-5797, or
on their Facebook group which is udotil5eis. More information is coming and in May
they anticipate the final screening report to be released. Myron asked if there was a do
nothing alternative being studied as equal to other alternatives. Tiffany said a no build
alternative is part of the process and said that part of the project's purpose and need is
to address some aging infrastructure in the corridor. Justice asked if more details of the
themes just presented would be available to them and the public and Tiffany said all the
public comments are now available on their website. She said it's a substantial
document, so they are also preparing some FAQ on the website for the major themes
that they heard. Shane said there will be another public hearing on the draft
environmental documents this fall, and that feedback will also be taken online for public
review. Greg said he heard from people who live within a 1/2 mile and never received
notice of the ist open house. Dan said they sent notices out within a 1/4 mile on each
side, and they may look at going out as far as 1/2 mile for the next time. Justice said
people in District 1 are feeling a bit disenfranchised, like maybe their comments aren't
going to be taken to heart. He asked if they were going to add to the comments what the
team plans to do to address those concerns. Dan said the best thing is when the
screening report comes out and it will be reflective of all the comments. Johnnae asked
if they could quantify the themes and Tiffany said that's a good idea, they have those
numbers and can share them. Dan wanted to be clear that it's not a vote for the
alternatives, whether they get 1 or 20 comments, they are all looked at equally. Dan
encouraged anyone with questions to reach out and said they are happy to come out and
meet with small groups or neighborhoods.
i000 West 700 South
Bill Baranowski, SLC Transportation
Bill introduced himself and said he's there to share some information on a roundabout
design for bikes and pedestrians. There are some elements of this design in the project
on l000 West and boo South which are primarily pedestrian related. He gave a brief
history of roundabouts in Utah, many of which did not have pedestrian crossings or
bicycle facilities nearby until recently. Neighborhood traffic circles are usually just a
concrete island, and they reduce speed by 11% but roundabouts offer a 26% speed
reduction. He talked about some specific features of modern roundabouts and gave
comparisons to a traffic signal. There is a go% reduction in fatalities, 72% reduction in
injuries, 35-40% reduction in car crashes and a 10% reduction in bike crashes due to
having less conflict points at a roundabout rather than a signaled intersection. He
showed examples of modern roundabouts in Salt Lake County and what pedestrian and
bicycle amenities they have. Julie loved both roundabouts they are putting in and asked
if there was any speed change or reduction in conflicts with pedestrians and cyclists in
the two examples he showed. Bill said they are still collecting that information. The
loon West roundabout was developed by the Poplar Grove CC through a CIP grant and
Page 2 of 5 TAB 04-03-2023 Minutes
is to reduce the huge right of way at this intersection. The roundabout they are planning
makes it a more friendly intersection for all users and is quite a unique design. They will
be creating a space for artwork and this project budget is around $400k, which is quite
low for a roundabout. Becka asked about the design speed and Bill said it's 15-18 mph,
there will also be additional street lighting added. Jim asked about a crosswalk nearby
at about 1350 West and 1200 South and wanted to know how it could be changed to
have raised crosswalks. Bill said he'll look at it and see if there is anything that can be
done. Roundabouts are traffic calming and safety measures compared to a 4-way stop
or a traffic signal. Greg asked if a streetlight at every crossing was sufficient, and Bill
said it was the minimum and each light should provide 20 feet of light. Johnnae
thanked Bill for that background information, she said it's nice to know a little more.
Given what Bill had said and given her own experience with roundabouts, she asked
how they get more of these. Bill said more money is needed for them and they try to do
them in locations that do not require extra right of way. They are also looking at
intersections with signals that need to be replaced. Those intersections might do well
with a roundabout and while they are more than a signal replacement, it is a better use
of funding and might include lane reduction and bike lanes. There are around 20
locations they are looking at and Bill will come back to TAB to talk about those at some
point when there is potential funding. He said roundabouts are also good air pollution
reducers compared to having starts and stops at a traffic light.
Vision Zero Task Force Meeting Update
Jon Larsen, SLC Transportation
In January, the Mayor made a proclamation of SLC's intention to become a Vision Zero
city. There are still some things that need to be done to make that happen,but the
proclamation is the first step. One of the things that needs to be done is to have a task
force, so the Safe Streets Task Force has been repurposed to become the Vision Zero
Task Force. That Task Force met on February 15th and not long after that meeting,
found out WFRC got a Safe Streets and Roads for All grant to develop a transportation
safety action plan for the entire region which is another item needed to become a vision
zero city. SLC has been big supporters of them applying for that grant and will be
heavily involved in the development of that plan and plan to use that as the basis for the
SLC action plan which they're hoping to have done by the end of the year. Jon said
Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries while
increasing safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for all. He gave a bit of history around
Vision Zero which is the mentality that traffic deaths are preventable, and he went
through some possible approaches for making that happen including speed
management. Future meetings are going to be focused on the action plan and then
follow up on how to make sure that plan is implemented. Lt.Wooldridge talked about
some of the data analysis SLCPD is working on with the Transportation Division and
some of the things they are doing with that data on this integrated safety effort. Jon said
the state is very supportive and very excited about this as well. Jon said TAB needs to
stay involved and provide feedback on what they would like to see. Johnnae asked if this
data will be published, and Jon said they have updated the Transportation safety
webpage with some of this information such as aggregated statistics and data will
continue to be updated. Johnnae said TAB would like to be informed about where those
hot spots are that are chronically problematic for multiple users. She also asked when
the next meeting is and if the public can attend. Jon said the public can attend but it's a
technical working group, not an open meeting and the next meeting is on May 17th at 9
a.m.
Page 3 of 5 TAB 04-03-2023 Minutes
Transportation Related Legislative Updates
Jon Larsen, SLC Transportation
Jon said that while they didn't get everything they wanted in the legislature; some really
cool stuff went through. He said the Board can go to WFRC's webpage under public
involvement and there is a bill tracker as they do a phenomenal job of tracking and
summarizing transportation related bills. The one thing he said they are really excited
about is that the Governor announced the intention to create a statewide trail system
that would connect all the communities in and throughout the state. There are three
bills related to railroads and railroad safety and one of them created a state office of
railroad safety who can charge the railroads fees under certain circumstances. The state
has authorized, and the county has approved 4 separate sales taxes,local options for
transportation which is where UTA gets a lot of their funding. One of the bills that
passed is to give the county the option, if they choose,to split those funds for the county
between themselves, UTA, and the cities which would bring in over $3 million just in
SLC. Julie explained how that funding could be split,what it would likely be used for
and how it could affect UTA. In order to improve electrification,better coordination on
electrified transportation, private vehicles and transit, the state has an Aspire program
and they have designated an official group to coordinate the electrification of all things
transportation for the state. There was another bill that passed to lower the gas tax,they
gave a temporary reprieve on gas tax which will come back up over the next 5 years and
then added a tax to retail vehicle charging stations.
Motion: Jim Espeland motioned to adjourn the meeting; Dave Alderman seconded the
motion. The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:26 p.m. and the next meeting of the Board was
scheduled for May 1, 2023.
TAB WebEx Meeting Chat
from John Close to everyone: 4:21 PM
Agreed, thanks Myron
from Myron to everyone: 4:23 PM
Is there a "do nothing" alternative being studied as equal to other
alternatives?
from Myron to everyone: 4:49 PM
I'm surprised that there's only a 10% reduction in harm to people on
bicycles
from Martin Cuma to everyone: 4:51 PM
I like the raised crosswalks, they are much nicer to use with a child stroller
or bike trailer than bumping over the curbs.
from Martin Cuma to everyone: 4:52 PM
Ah, this design will not alleviate the bumping over the gutters but I see the
problem with the drainage.
Page 4 of 5 TAB 04-03-2023 Minutes
from Roolf, Becka to everyone: 4:53 PM
what's the design speed?
from Masic, Leo Customer Experience Planner II to everyone: 4:58 PM
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Navajo+Circle/(&40.7436354,-
111-93o5166,18.25z1data=!4m15!lm8!3m7!1sox8752f4b8f2ed8o65:ox88dff8
g2a6f32d84!2sNavajo+St,+Salt+Lake+City,+UT+841o4!�bi!8m2!�d4o.75o
277R!4d-
111.g29484!16s%2Fg%2F1tvr 621!.Im5!1sox8752f.5f46��2f7titi:oxdgf7d.36do
72d32od!8m2!3d4o.74407o2!4d-111.9294869!i6s%2Fg%2Fiilptshg4p
from Masic, Leo Customer Experience Planner II to everyone: 4:58 PM
(The traffic circle in question)
from Myron to everyone: 4:59 PM
Love it!
from John Close to everyone: 5:01 PM
Very supportive of these, raised crosswalks and roundabouts have been
highly successful on the University campus.
from Julie to everyone: 5:03 PM
the roundabout at 9th and 11th, regardless whale vs. gnome, is a major
improvement for all aspects of life!
from Masic, Leo Customer Experience Planner II to everyone: 5:03 PM
All hail the whale!
from Roolf, Becka to everyone: 5:14 PM
It seems like hot spots for any type of walking or biking crashes could be
treated as a potential fatal/serious injury. Unlike motor vehicle crashes,
nearly every one of those is a possible fatal.
from Lyons,Amy to everyone: 5:21 PM
May 17th
from Julie to everyone: 5:24 PM
Here's our legislative session wrap up:
https://does.google.com/document/d/1IZo daUrSCT0 2aCUXg52TczBmmRx
W4�Jas804gWHC-4/edit
Approved by Transportation Advisory Board 05-01-2023.
Page 5 of 5 TAB 04-03-2023 Minutes