Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/21/2025 - Meeting Minutes SALT LAKE CITY BICYCLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE Minutes of the April 21, 2025 Meeting BAC Members Present for this meeting were Alla Chernenko, Ben Trueman, Martin Cuma, Matthew Morriss, and Sarah Johnson. BAC Member Electronically Present for this meeting was Laura Lewis. BAC Members Absent for this meeting were Greta Sommerfeld and Ashley Lodmell. Also Present were Jon Nichols, Jon Larsen, Kerry Doane, Max Hoagland, Jeannie Rollo, Lt. Steve Wooldridge, and Cmdr.Andrew Cluff. Also Electronically Present were Amy Lyons, William Davis, Rebecca Bauer, Becka Roolf, Kara Freedman, and Dede Murray. The meeting was held both electronically via WebEx and in person and was called to order at 5:02 p.m. by Sarah Johnson. Sarah welcomed everyone and everyone introduced themselves. Approval of Minutes Motion: Martin Cuma motioned to approve the minutes of the December 16, 2024 BAC meeting and the January 13, 2025 Joint TAB-BAC Meeting. Matthew Morriss seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. BAC Vacancies Update &Nominee Introductions Over 35 BAC applications were screened, then narrowed down to ii applicants who were interviewed. From those interviews, 5 people were recommended for the open BAC positions to the Mayor's Office. The Mayor's office has appointed them,with confirmation by the City Council pending. Those nominees were in attendance and introduced themselves. They should be approved by the next meeting. Member Report Out Alla said since the weather has been warmer, she's been riding. Unfortunately, she hasn't been enjoying some of the underpasses of the Jordan River Trail, specifically the underpass at I-8o south of 200 South. Her group rode through a whole bunch of glass and she's been noticing an increasing amount of debris. The underpasses are already kind of hard to navigate, especially in a group,without glass and debris. She is hoping they can continue discussing bicycle infrastructure in the future. Becka posted in the chat to please report glass, in particular,with the MySLC app. Ben would like to discuss bicycle infrastructure again at future meetings as well. He said he's been going on a Wednesday night group ride for a couple of weeks. It begins at 6:oo p.m. at Loki Coffee and is run by Unplugged Wellness. They are community rides which are published ahead of time, usually on Instagram, and they've been really great. Laura asked if the connection to the Jordan River Parkway from the Parleys Trail is Page 1 of 4 BAC 04-21-2025 Minutes still craziness around goo West or if there's a better route that she's missing. Alla just rode that coming from Taylorsville and said it's now a bridge that takes you over most of the madness,but there is still a detour through a parking lot to avoid a construction zone. She said it's better compared to a few years ago,but construction started there about six months ago. Matthew mentioned this at a prior meeting but wanted to reiterate that the green paint for bike lanes in the intersection of 200 West and 300 South is getting really cracked and could use a fresh coat of paint. He also wanted to reiterate that he thinks it would be awesome to have the bike lane on North Temple going to the east when the temple construction is done. It would be really nice to have a bike lane through the Avenues. Martin said he's really noticing the potholes while riding his cargo bike and they're getting worse and worse. He's not sure if Transportation can do anything about it,but it is definitely putting a dent in his commuting. It's gotten to a point where it gets dangerous because a bike wheel can get stuck in a big hole and there are these longer cracks that are pretty wide that can catch a tire. He reported one and the City filled it up, but they only filled the biggest holes and there are still others that are a problem. He still wishes there was some sort of biking infrastructure on Foothill. He knows this is a UDOT road, but it's really the lowest effort to allow people to go from the southeast neighborhoods to the U of U. There are other routes, but they aren't as direct, and he feels he should be treated the same as a car commuter. Becka asked that everyone use the MySLC app for things like glass in the bike lane or potholes. If it's an entire street needing repair, she asked that they e-mail Transportation. Ben said on the g-Line, especially now that it's warming up, there are a lot of people walking in the bikeway and it doesn't appear that the signage is clear for pedestrians. He said there are also vehicles partially parked in the bikeway quite often. He asked if doing more signage on the g-Line was planned. Sarah has found this happening more frequently where the sidewalk is narrow. Matthew said there have also been people camping on parts of the sidewalk. Ben asked Transportation to consider this when they design future bikeways. Sarah shared an update on behalf of Greta. Greta sent pictures regarding bike lanes being blocked by parked police cars. She wanted to understand what the standard of practice is when they are utilizing the bike lanes. Lt. Wooldridge said when officers respond to calls, there are going on emergency response and will park where they think it tactically makes sense. He will send a message today reminding officers not to park in bike lanes unless it's an emergency situation. Anyone can contact 801-799-3000 if they feel an officer is parked in a bike lane unnecessarily. Cmdr. Cluff said that it can also be reported on the MySLC app. Sarah took 30o East biking north to come to the meeting today. She wanted to reiterate that there are a lot of cars that are partway in the bike lane. There were two sections, one where the bike lane is closest to the curb and there was parking in that. There was also the section where there is parking and then the bike lane and nearly every third car was in the bike lane. She also wanted to address their feedback about having more infrastructure conversation in this meeting and said they will work to put that on a future agenda. Public Comment Jeannie (BAC nominee) said she lives in the Avenues and rides several times a day. She asked if iith Avenue would be paved in its entirety from the fire station to Virginia Street. Martin said it's in pretty good shape compared to other roads, but Jeannie said with recent local projects, it's taken a whack and is in worse shape than it's been in over Page 2 of 4 BAC 04-21-2025 Minutes 30 years. Becka said that it is on the maps as needing at least repaving if not reconstruction,but it may not happen for a few years. Kara said she's been bike commuting in this city and other cities for about five years and has had some of her scariest moments on the 300 West bike lane. There are numerous drivers who pull out from popular store parking lots and are looking left for southbound drivers and not to the right for cyclists coming from the south. She had some near misses at the end of last week and it's disappointing because there's so much bike infrastructure. She would love to learn what she can and should be doing to advocate. For a road with high vehicle traffic in and out of driveways and a high Oomph speed limit, it doesn't feel like the right decision to put a two-lane bike lane next to all those big box stores. Sarah said she's doing the right thing by sharing this with BAC and this very topic has been discussed with this Committee. Jon said when the project was being designed there was a lot of discussion and many reasons why it was put where it is. Recognizing some of the concerns Kara has highlighted, they are looking at additional signage or pavement markings. Kara said it would also be a citywide driver education issue as well as setting up the infrastructure in a way that is keeping everyone safer. Follow-up to Joint Meeting (other departments/divisions) Following up on the joint meeting, Becka asked what the Committee learned or if there were topics they would like to discuss further. Members made the following comments. • They want to hear more about street lighting • They want to hear more about the Foothills Trails Plan • They want more information on the East/West Study, including crossing Bangerter and Federal Grants related to this study • They would like to sort through past topics and recurring themes to have very focused conversations • They are interested in how municipalities communicate regarding intersecting bike infrastructure Transportation is engaging their fellow agencies in developing a working relationship with TAB and BAC, a twice per year connection. No action was taken. Jordan River Trail Closure SLC Police Department staff said the Jordan River Trail is temporarily closed for about 6 months from 7Oo North to 2Oo North. There are multiple reasons for this closure. Those include a huge influx of a homeless population that included drug addicted and mentally ill individuals. There were also reports of people trying to sell drugs to elementary school children and paraphernalia left on the trail. The City has seen immediate results. Another reason for the closure is the rehabilitation of the trail infrastructure. The trail is being moved to the other side of the river. The hope is that when the new trail is completed, the closure can also be lifted. They typically communicate these types of closures with a press conference, a release on Instagram, and closures are also listed on the City website. If anyone sees illegal or concerning behavior within the city, please report it on the MySLC app. Kerry said there isn't a detour sign for this closure, and someone might not know it's closed until you reach it. Cmdr. Cluff said he'll talk to Parks about some additional signage. Page 3 of 4 BAC 04-21-2025 Minutes SB195 Jon said the City and UDOT are working through SB195. UDOT has been a good partner and is collaborating well with SLC. A study needs to be completed to present by fall. Jon went over some of the study metrics and requirements. The boundary area impacted by SB195 is I-15 to Foothill and boo North to 2100 South. Sarah asked what they can do to support some of the projects that could be at risk, and Jon said writing letters to express their thoughts is always appropriate. Becka said they need to be particularly responsive to the business community, so if anyone has any contacts within the business community, particularly from the study area on the east side, please pass them along to her. No action was taken. Bikeways with Paint Maintenance Challenges The Streets Division has committed resources to stripe missing bike lanes, especially caused by cars being parked when the lane was last painted. Becka asked everyone to send her an e-mail with any bike lanes they have seen that fit this category No action was taken. Motion: Ben Trueman motioned to adjourn the meeting; Matthew Morriss seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m. Meeting Chat Becka Roolf 4/21/2025 5:16 PM • Please report glass, in particular, via mySLC app. Becka Roolf 4/21/2025 5:20 PM • Please report potholes via mySLC app. 4/21/2025 5:21 PM • They do rely on reports to fix them. Becka Roolf 4/21/2025 5:30 PM • Police non-emergency 801-799-3000 Becka Roolf 4/21/2025 5:32 PM • Infrastructure discussions were on the tentative agenda,but got bumped by timely items. I feel like we need a solid 45-6o minutes for that topic. You 4/21/2025 5:57 PM • https://www.slc.gov/blog/2025/04/o1/salt-lake-city- temporarily-closes-part-of Jordan-river-parkway-trail-to-address-environmental- public-safety-concerns/ Approved by the Bicycle Advisory Committee 05-19-25. Page 4 of 4 BAC 04-21-2025 Minutes