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10/16/2023 - Meeting Minutes SALT LAKE CITY BICYCLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE Minutes of the October 16, 2023 Meeting BAC Members Present for this meeting were Alla Chernenko, Greta Sommerfeld, and Martin Cuma. BAC Members Electronically Present for this meeting were Ben Trueman, Joshua Poppel, Laura Lewis, Matthew Morriss, Pat Casey, Rachel Manko, Raymond Reynolds, and Sarah Johnson. BAC Members Absent for this meeting were Ashley Lodmell and Max McLeod. Also present were Joe Taylor, Jon Larsen, and Dave Iltis. Also present electronically were Chloe Morroni, Heather McLaughlin-Kolb, Jason Brown, Michelle Barry, Patrick Nelson, Julianne Sabula, Steve Wooldridge, Becka Roolf, Jordan King, Dede Murray,Amy Lyons,Jesse Stewart, Jesse Kilinger. The meeting was held both electronically via WebEx and in person and was called to order at 5:03 p.m. by Martin Cuma. Martin welcomed everyone. Approval of Minutes Motion: Martin Cuma moved to approve the minutes of the September 18, 2023 meeting. Alla Chernenko seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Public Comment — Dave Iltis with Cycling Utah said he's been working with Transportation because there have been many instances of construction projects blocking sidewalks and bike lanes with no alternatives, no signage, and apparently in violation for the most part of their permits. Julianne is going to be leading this effort to get this system changed because something's broken in between permitting, how this plays out with what the construction companies are doing. Secondly, he's been emailing Transportation and SLC Streets regarding the many bike lanes where the road gets repaved, car lanes get restriped,but the bike lanes get ignored and haven't been restriped. He gave a list of bike lanes he is aware of that have been waiting up to two years to get striped. The City is doing a terrible job with completing bike lanes at the same time as car lanes are fixed and he doesn't understand why, he can't get a straight answer from anyone within the City. It's an annoying problem because bikes are treated as second class citizens and he's hoping the Committee can ask Streets or Transportation to come in and find out why this is happening and how to change it. One piece of good news is that on Gladiola Street from goo South to 2100 South, the bike lanes have been fixed and now there is a continuous 6.3-mile bike route. Martin said he would like to bring attention to repainting bike lanes after resurfacing because he thinks that is important. Alla said 2700 South is a good example as the pavement ends halfway into the narrow bike lane which makes an extra barrier. Jon said one of the challenges with new asphalt is the lines will fade faster because there aren't the layers of old paint. Page 1 of 6 BAC 10-16-2023 Minutes Streets try to repaint all the lines every year,but this year they got a late start due to the rain, and the temperature must be at least 5o degrees and rising.When they go to stripe bike lanes, if there are cars parked in the area, they must go ahead of time and put up no parking signs. If there are still a few cars, they must have a tow company come in and move all the cars which adds complexity to this process. Sometimes they will go around the cars with the intent of coming back and filling the gaps,but they don't always have the time. In addition, the green paint is special paint requiring special equipment, and they must work with an outside contractor to have that put down. A conversation is happening with Streets on how to deal with this in the future but for now, it is slow and frustrating. Dave said after a year or more, there is no excuse for that, and Streets won't even respond to inquiries about this. Martin suggested they invite Streets to a meeting so they can learn about the striping process. Jon said Transportation functions are kind of scattered around which poses an added challenge for coordination. Martin asked who was over Transportation and Jon explained the different Departments and Divisions associated. They are making a lot of efforts to coordinate but there are structural challenges with having groups spread apart. Alla had a comment related to something Dave Iltis brought up in a past meeting,which is that she keeps thinking about the timing of the bicycle lights on 300 West and goo South. He pointed out that you must push the button every time at that location but not all the lights on 300 West are like this, some seem to be synched to the traffic signal. She's wondering what it would take to make synchronized buttons happen more widely along the corridor. Martin said it's the same thing with the pedestrian buttons and he personally thinks they should. He said Jon told him the issue is because of the width of the street and sometimes the timing is for cars,but Martin said he would argue this is still detrimental to the pedestrians and bicyclists and we should think more about this. Alla said 300 West and goo South are especially good and are so close to being great if that button didn't have to be pushed. She also thinks Walmart should put some kind of signage that says please don't run over people. Jon said they're working on improving the signage and pavement markings on all the driveways along 300 West. Jon suggested they have a future topic on signal timing. Ben also noticed on 300 West that there are at least a few intersections, if you press the button,you get to go ist before the light turns for cars. He doesn't know if that is consistent at every intersection,but he really appreciates it. Jon said they should have a conversation about signal timing. Greta said they should also consider no right turns on red.Alla agreed and said that is done in other places. Dave said regarding the right on red issue, there are a couple of intersections like goo South where you absolutely shouldn't have right on red and it makes no sense to allow right on red there. He also said speed limits in SLC are ridiculously high and gave some examples. Martin said he thinks they are getting better as speed limits are lowered but maybe they can discuss this in another meeting, it's not something that will be corrected in a year or two. Committee Announcements and Updates — Martin said he has a bit of an issue with the Parks Division timing when they choose to water the parks next to the bike lanes and cyclists end up sprayed on their morning commute. He would like to bring someone from Parks to talk about it in February or March, so they don't forget over the winter. He's requesting any Committee members to let him know if they have any issues related to this so they can cover it when Parks comes to their meeting. His other issue is the golf course maintenance of adjacent sidewalks and byways. In particular,the golf course next to Foothill which had its bushes growing halfway into the sidewalk. He called them and they took care of it,which was great,but they should have done this twice a year without anyone Page 2 of 6 BAC 10-16-2023 Minutes asking. Martin knows a TAB member who commutes that way and has also complained about this in the past, so they are aware. BAC should push them to create a process, so they don't need to be reminded every year to do basic maintenance,which is also something they will talk to Parks about. He said there are a lot of cars parking on 200 South. The parking signs have not been changed and the striping doesn't make sense in spots. City Creek Water Treatment Plan Upgrade Jesse Stewart&Jason Brown, SLC Public Utilities Jesse introduced his project team and said he's here to give an update on this upgrade project, especially how it's going to relate to canyon closures and road patterns to accommodate construction and to keep everyone safe. The City Creek Treatment Plant is part of their critical infrastructure for SLC and is one of three water treatment plants they own and operate; it is a 2-16 million gallon a day water treatment plant. It is the oldest water right the city has, is really the first water used by the pioneers, and the plant was built in the 196o's. This is one of the primary water sources for around 35ok people. The plant is about 3.5 miles from the gate entrance and it's time to do some upgrades in terms of aging infrastructure, improving its resiliency, and bringing it up to modern standards. He went over the map of the project area. They received a Federal Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant of$36.7 million and the entire project will cost around $too million. He went over the project schedule with construction beginning November is'and going through January 2027. There will be a lot of interruptions to traffic coming through Bonneville Blvd and up the canyon beginning November ist. Trail access will be maintained but they will be closing the upper canyon trails. City Creek Canyon Road will be completely closed at the hairpin turn just below picnic site 16 until January 2027. They will open it to pedestrians and bicycles on weekends and holidays up to site 16,but closed Monday-Friday due to the construction traffic. Bonneville shoreline trail will remain open, all other trails will be closed beyond site 6. There will be no water in the facilities above that. He went over public engagement to date including a website which is www.keepitpureciiycreek.com. They will continue with public engagement and if the work is completed early, they will open early. There is a Gear Up for City Creek event this Saturday and he encouraged everyone to attend. Ben asked if there were any plans to repave Canyon Road from the water treatment plant before it reopens, and Jesse said there were not. Ben thought it would be nice to get a fresh coat of asphalt before it reopens. Jesse said they'll add it to the list but there is currently no funding for that. Patrick said they've done some patches but there is no plan to resurface it at this time. Martin asked why the trails are not closed at the border of the construction zone and Michelle said this is a large construction project in a small area and they will need additional construction staging areas for equipment and construction materials. There will also be a lot of construction traffic and they want to limit interface between anyone and their construction traffic. Martin asked why they don't open the trail on the weekends too Jesse said if the roads are open, the trails will also be open. Martin asked if there were any thoughts to keep the barricades on Bonneville Blvd after the project and they said he should talk to Jon about that. Dave Iltis said this is one of the most popular cycling and walking routes in SLC and he thinks the way they've planned this closure for 3 years is really a lapse in planning judgement. He gets the safety issues,but he thinks they need to go back and figure out how to make this better and allow morning or evening access before and after construction. This is one of the few escapes from car traffic within the city. Dave said Public Utilities was unaware of BAC until he brought it up, so they are lacking in their public outreach, and he wants to know what they are going to do here to do better. Page 3 of 6 BAC 10-16-2023 Minutes Martin said he agrees that they should have been involved and discussed this a year ago. Jesse agreed and said this is a very well used network for cyclists so it wasn't a decision made easily but the treatment plant will be one big construction site and the road won't be passable from that point. Dave asked why they can't move their equipment and provide a pathway through the construction zone on weekends and holidays. Jesse said they've gone through their planning process and they're going to have to close the roads above the turning point. Martin asked if they could make some amendments to their plan to accommodate this and he offered some suggestions. Michelle said the road already needs work and with their heavy construction traffic on the road, it's going to get worse. If they were to allow daily access, they would have to go through and make the road safe every day and that would be very costly. They are trying to be cost conscious given the expenses of these projects and have made an agreement with the contractor that every Friday night they will be sweeping, inspecting the road, and, patching potholes, and marking the areas with orange cones so it's safe over the weekends and holidays. Following the completion of this project, they will be putting at least another fresh layer on top of it to clean up after the construction traffic. Jesse said if there are opportunities as the project progresses, if there's downtime or other things where they can, they will open more of the road longer or for different time periods. Martin encouraged them to open mornings and evenings with a disclaimer to enter at your own risk. Patrick seconded what everyone has been saying about opening more often. Jesse said they have a certain amount of time to use the funding or lose it so they will get this project done as expediently as they can and keep the public and workers as safe as they can. Lt. Wooldridge commented that if there is an accident, that's going to create more problems and will further delay this project getting done. This is why they close the road for a construction zone, unfortunately, that's probably the safest thing for the public. Transportation Master Plan Joe Taylor, SLC Transportation Joe said there is now a draft plan on the website and the name has been changed to Connect SLC, Citywide Transportation Plan. It is a 20-year vision for the future of the roadway network in SLC. It is currently in a comment period after which it will be sent to the Planning Commission who will hopefully recommend the plan to the City Council. This plan is rooted in values heard from the community, it has a lot of policy recommendations, and does not include a list of infrastructure projects. He went through the plan quickly and encouraged everyone to go through it on their own time and feel free to contact him with any questions or comments. He went over some of the findings from community engagement which included values such as equity, health and safety, reliable options, affordability, and sustainability. This plan works towards improving safety for all with a vision of zero deaths on SLC roadways and making transit a competitive and attractive mode of travel in the city. It also looks at healing the east- west divide, reinvesting in westside neighborhoods, getting private investors to create walkable districts citywide, and creating complete streets. More information can be found here: https://www.slc.gov/transportation/plans-studies/tmp/. Alla asked if SLC has been talking to all the other folks in the city and maybe at the State level and if they seem receptive to these values. Joe said internally to the city, they have met with all the Division Directors, and they recognize that we could be doing better and were on board and excited about it. Martin said this is a broad-brush kind of description of things and asked how this will translate into actual actions that will have a real impact on the streets. Joe said if this plan is adopted, it clarifies their intention to the city Page 4 of 6 BAC 10-16-2023 Minutes administration and for Transportation and other divisions to follow that. Martin brought up the Pedestrian&Bicycle Master Plan wasn't always fulfilled and said it would be nice to have more concrete things,but he understands that this is a more broad-brush plan from which other thing will stem and hopefully they will stem in the right direction. Joe agreed and said the hope is that this is a 20-year plan. Ray asked how this plan will influence policy making in the future. Joe said it is mostly just laying out what the Transportation Division intends to do over the next couple of decades. Martin said this is sort of a binding document for the administration to follow for which then will stem more detailed plans or other policies that may be related. Ray asked about the environmental part of this plan and if there is a specific environmental goal. Joe said a very big thing we can address in Transportation is climate change and air quality and we considered putting mode shift targets in this plan,but they don't have a funding mechanism or structure to measure mode shifts. They didn't want to put something in there that would become obsolete because they don't have a way to report back on mode shift. Ray gave some suggestions about how they could include environmental goals and metrics. Joe said the WFRC does a io-year travel survey, and they would love to have it done more often but it's expensive enough they didn't want to promise it and not be able to deliver it. Ray asked how much the WFRC plan overlaps with this plan and Joe said WFRC works with a much larger group, so SLC is generally more progressive than them because they're dealing with a broader population. Ray wants to make sure no plan is impeded by another. Sarah wanted to comment on the targets Ray mentioned, she would recommend internally, they measure what's happening and show impact so they can say yes,we are making progress. She encouraged them to track some meaningful metrics. Joe said that's a great comment and it's something they're thinking a lot about, data collection more broadly. Jon said UDOT's Travel Wise Team is paying for consultants to do a comprehensive before and after study for goo South. Dave Iltis asked if this is the final version or if there is another comment period. Joe said it's a 45-day comment period and this is the last comment period for the public. Dave asked if they are going to do things or just note comments because he sees some serious logistical problems with what was presented. Specifically in terms of the complete streets, the sustainability and meshing, the Climate 2040 plan, and is Engineering going to pay any attention to this or is this just Transportation planning. He follows this stuff regularly and this is the first time he's heard about this comment period. Joe said basically nothing is going to change at this point as they've done two years of outreach. Dave said this is the first time he's heard there was an actual document to look through. Martin asked what Dave's issue is because he sees this as an umbrella for the city to look at and Dave said he can't tell him because he hasn't seen the document. Dave said the organization of the city is disastrous and Martin said they're aware of deficiencies in communication between different city departments; BAC is making their voices heard and will keep working on that. Ray asked that Transportation come to them with specific items to comment on rather than general comments regarding an entire plan to make sure Transportation is getting what they need from the Committee. Martin said they would like a checklist of what they should look at prior to the meeting so they are prepared in the future. Motion: Martin Cuma motioned to adjourn the meeting; Greta seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 6:37 p.m. Meeting Chat from Ben Trueman to everyone: 5:19 PM Page 5 of 6 BAC 10-16-2023 Minutes Last meeting we discussed circulating that bikeway gaps map from Becka Roolf. Does anyone have that link to circulate? I've been noticing lots of gaps lately but don't have the link to report them from Lyons, Amy to everyone: 5:24 PM @Ben Trueman https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=iagHbCew5hViERgw8v5UdTdI 4 LgNS Q 6 s&u sp=sharing from Lyons, Amy to everyone: 6:o6 PM Citywide Transportation Plan: https://www.slc.gov/transportation/plans- studies/tmpZ from Lyons,Amy to everyone: 6:10 PM joe.taylor(&slcgov.com from Sabula, Julianne to everyone: 6:21 PM I will add that the plan, once adopted, will be used to inform updates to City code, policies, and procedures across departments, in addition to guiding the work of the Transportation Division. from Sabula, Julianne to everyone: 6:30 PM The public can also comment during the adoption process, but to City Council rather than to the Transportation Division. from Sarah Johnson to everyone: 6:35 PM I appreciate your comment, Ray. That guidance would help me as well. Approved by the Bicycle Advisory Committee 11-20-23. Page 6 of 6 BAC 10-16-2023 Minutes