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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/05/2025 - Meeting Minutes SALT LAKE CITY TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD Minutes of the May 5, 2025 Meeting Present from the Transportation Advisory Board were Jon Larsen, Josh Stewart, Justice Morath, Kelbe Goupil, Matt Gray, and Steve Wooldridge. Electronically present from the Transportation Advisory Board were Craig Buschmann, Daniel Mendoza, Julie Bjornstad, Miranda Bradshaw, Turner Bitton, and Suzanne Stensaas. Absent from the Transportation Advisory Board were Isaac Astill, John Close, and Matthew Morriss. Also Present was Becka Roolf. Electronically present were Amy Lyons,Ari Tepper, Greg Sanchez, Martin Cuma, Kassandra Boswell, Ivana Vladisavljevic (UDOT), Mili Pioquinto, Tyler Laing, and Lara McLellan. The meeting was held both electronically and in person and was called to order at 4:02 p.m. by Justice Morath. Welcome and Introduction of Guests — Justice welcomed everyone, and everyone introduced themselves. Motion: Suzanne Stensaas moved to approve the minutes of the February 3, 2025 and the April 7, 2025 TAB meetings with a correction to the April minutes. Craig Buschmann seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Public Comment Kassandra Boswell wanted to bring awareness to some transit issues she's seen throughout the city in the last couple of years. She noticed with the Trax blue line, the ramps become very convoluted, and she feels they are somewhat of a safety issue. There will be people with bicycles and wheelchairs that can only come down via the ramp, and then they're funneled into the center aisle. When they get to the next stop and someone needs to get off, everyone has to use the ramp and there is no room for a wheelchair to maneuver out until everyone else has gone down the ramp. She has taken a bicycle on the blue line and has fallen down the stairs. This is because you can only stand next to the stairs once you're in the center aisle and the blue line, which rocks the worst, is rocking. She would also like to impose pedestrian crossing guardrails similar to that of cars, where a rail comes down with flashing lights. People nowadays have headphones and do not tend to look up from their phones. She feels a lot of pedestrian accidents could be prevented with those guardrails at the sidewalk crossings. She's seen so many people nearly get hit because the weren't looking and there may have been an accident if not for the vigilance of the drivers. Kassandra was also homeless for several years and was able to establish an apartment after being in a shelter. Now that she's in a stable Pagel of 5 TAB 05-05-2025 Minutes place, she wants to bring up free bus passes for the homeless that are really trying to change their life and turn their life around. It is very difficult to find a job when you cannot get to most of the interviews in the city. The only place that is able to help you with a bus pass for one day is the Wiggins Center and you have to prove to them that you're going to an interview. Sometimes to provide that required documentation,you need to go on a bus to a library or establishment to get a signature that you're going to be attending an interview, but you can't get to the establishment without a bus pass so you're going backwards. She wishes there was some way to help with a bus pass for people who are really trying to acquire a job, pick themselves up, and improve their lives. Homelessness has been problematic within the city and for those trying to get a job, it seems unattainable without a bus pass. She was finally offered bus passes and was able to acquire a job so she can now continue getting bus passes since she is employed. She feels if there was something in place,just a little bit of help with a bus pass, it would be easier for homeless people to be able to find employment. Matt said he will take these comments back to UTA. He also said the blue line is going to transition to low floor vehicles which will make it more accessible. Becka mentioned the Low- Income Transit passes available to SLC residents. Report Out —by Members Greg Sanchez resigned from TAB to join the Citizen Advisory Board (CAB) for the SLC West-East Connections Study. He feels he can provide special insight and representation into his neighborhood and community while helping others understand the divide and constraints. This CAB consists of community members from all over the west side of SLC. They will be working with consulting teams and SLC to help the City come up with solutions and ideas. He's excited about this project and thinks it's a great opportunity to bridge the east and the west. There are huge barriers such as the freeway and the rail. He feels like TAB has really helped prepare him for this. He said there is a survey out which was provided to this group, and he would encourage them to take the survey and help guide this project with their feedback. Greg said i000 North is undergoing a re-pavement project and there is a big fuss from the Community Council about the short notice they were given. There wasn't good outreach about this, and it seems like it was very last minute because 600 North is under construction and now they're doing i000 North. There is confusion about when each street and the bridge will be closed. Greg thanked everyone on TAB and said he looks forward to working with them again. Jon said i000 North got expedited because the City realized how bad the pavement was. He said it will be a quick project fixing the pavement since it will be carrying extra traffic from the 600 North closure. Josh Stewart said at his Community Council meeting, they were not fans of the neighborhood byway at 1700 South 170o East. Jon said there seemed to be general support for it. Josh said there was also a crossing on Sunnyside that people were not too excited about. Jon said that was a constituent CIP project that included a lane drop,but that part will be removed from the project. Craig Buschmann asked if the City looked to determine the efficacy of the measures taken at places like the Boo East byway and whether these designs have actually achieved City goals before rolling them into other neighborhoods. Jon said the City has done quite a few analyses over the years of different traffic calming measures. Professor Reid Ewing, who wrote the book on traffic calming, had some of his students do a study looking at the various measures implemented by the City and the effectiveness of them. That report can be shared out if anyone is interested. Craig was just curious if there was Page 2 of 5 TAB 05-05-2025 Minutes a before and after they can show their community members who may be more resistant to some of these ideas. Justice Morath said they are sorely lacking representation from the disability community. They are looking for a local organizations to regularly send someone to TAB meetings. He's been reaching out to people,but if any members have any connections or ideas, please let him know. TAB Retreat The Board previously spoke about having an informal meeting. They wanted to talk about their vision and what they want TAB to be. Motion: Josh Stewart moved to consider having an in-person TAB retreat of 2 hours. The day, month, and time to be determined by using an e-mail type survey like Doodle. Matt Gray seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Matt volunteered to help orchestrate this both in finding a location and sending out a poll with possible dates and times. UDOT Capitol Hill Study UDOT held an open house on their Capitol Hill Study, the link to this study was on the agenda. Julie attended the open house. She said UDOT shared some potential solutions, and the outcome of the study is not one specific solution, but a variety of solutions that can be explored. Those include the following. • Grade separated pedestrian crossings • One-way couplets • Traffic calming features • Possibly reducing the Main Street to one lane Suzanne said this discussion shows why TAB needs continuity with UTA and UDOT. No action was taken. UTA Projects &Other Transportation Infrastructure for the Olympics Becka gave a quick intro and said the window is closing as far as transportation improvements that TAB might envision completing pre-Olympics. Things take awhile to get funded, go through public engagement, get designed, and actually be constructed. Members discussed the following. • Parking • Sunday service for Frontrunner • Utilizing larger parking structures by connecting them with shuttles • Better connections overall • More frequent transportation • Transitioning from diesel to battery powered trains • Moving TRAX out of the middle of Main Street for a better pedestrian environment Motion: Justice motioned to prioritize public transit solutions over additional public parking but also incorporate the proper infrastructure now for EVs in preparation for the Olympics. Miranda seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Page 3 of 5 TAB 05-05-2025 Minutes There was a request for updates on two UTA projects which were the Frontrunner and Techlink. The links to both were in the agenda for members to review. Lara said the Orange Line will happen before the Olympics and that Sunday Frontrunner service is in the long-range transit plan. Matt gave highlights of UTA's study which will double train frequency and is expected to be completed no later than 2030. Justice said the Orange Line should help alleviate the east/west divide because it goes from Research Park to the SLC airport. Granary District Transportation Connections - Update Justice mentioned a news article indicating some businesses in the Granary District were not happy with Transportation. Jon said there is a Granary District Area Plan draft online with some great improvement suggestions. It's a place that needs a lot of investment and will continue to get a lot of investment from SLC over the next decade. No action was taken. Adjourn. Motion: Justice Morath motioned to adjourn the meeting; Kelbe Goupil seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 5:34 p.m. and the next meeting is a joint TAB/BAC meeting scheduled for June 9, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. TAB WebEx Meeting Chat Greg Sanchez 5/5/2025 4:16 PM • Thank you for coming and being a voice for those who are underrepresented in our community! Matt Gray(UTA) 5/5/2025 4:17 PM • http://rideuta.com/comment Greg Sanchez 5/5/2025 4:27 PM • I'm gonna hop off. Thanks all and keep doing good work! Miranda Bradshaw 5/5/2025 4:32 PM • Seems useful! Suzanne 5/5/2025 4:52 PM • Suggest contact Josh teaser or Jeffries at Craig Nielsen rehab hospital regarding former patient who would represent he ada community Matt Gray(UTA) 5/5/2025 4:52 PM • https://frontrunner2x.utah.gov/ 5/5/2025 4:52 PM • https://www.techlinkstudy.com/ Lara McLellan- UTA 5/5/2025 4:59 PM - I just want to add that the TechLink study and subsequent projects coming out of it are hopefully going to be able to be completed before the Olympics,but they are not happening because of the Olympics. They are improvements to the UTA system that we would be working to advance whether or not the Olympics were coming because they are needed for the health and growth of our whole system! Meeting Questions from the Public Response to Kassandra Boswell's inquiry about low-income transit passes. The Human Service Fare Program, also known as the Low-Income Pass Program, is a partnership program between Salt Lake City and qualified social service agencies that Page 4 of 5 TAB 05-05-2025 Minutes provide assistance to low-income and underserved populations in Salt Lake City. Through this program, eligible service providers can offer daily and monthly transit passes to individuals who receive their services. Below is a list of participating service providers and includes links to their websites and contact information. 1. Family Promise Salt Lake - https:,L/familypromisesaltlake.org/ 801-961-8622 814 West 800 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104 2. First Step House - https://firststephouse.QW 801-359-8862 230 West 400 South#103, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 3. Catholic Community Services - https://ccsutah.org/ 801-363-7710 437 West 200 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 4. Artspace Utah - https://www.artspaceutah.org/ 801-364-1019 admin@artspaceutah.or 230 South 500 West(#235), Salt Lake City, UT 84101 5. Asian Association of Utah - https:,L/aau-slc.orgZ 801-467-6060 155 South 300 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 6. YWCA- https:L/www.ywcautah.org/ 801-537-8604 info@ywcautah.org 322 East 300 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84111 7. Volunteers of America - https:://www.voaut.Qrg/ 801-363-9414 info@voaut.org 1875 South Redwood Road, Salt Lake City, UT 84104 8. Project Reality - https:,L/projectreality.netZ 385-881-0170 project@pro jectreality.net 667 South 700 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84102 9. The Other Side Village - https:,L/theothersidevillage.com/ 801-618-1234 info@theothersidevillage.com 1882 West Indiana Avenue, Salt Lake City, UT 84104 10. Soap 2 Hope - https:L/soap2hopeut.com/ 801-663-0183 1540 Main Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84115 Approved by the Transportation Advisory Board o8-04-25. Page 5 of 5 TAB 05-05-2025 Minutes