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Cottonwood Heights Journal

Suggestions for a Bike Friendly Cottonwood Heights Heard

Dec 07, 2015 03:03PM ● By Bryan Scott

By Cassandra Goff

Cottonwood-Holladay - Cottonwood Heights City Planners held an open house from 6 to 8 p.m. in the first floor training room of city hall on Nov. 12.  Mike Johnson, city planner, explained that they are “working on a draft plan” that is “done in house” to improve bicycle transportation within the city and wanted resident comments and suggestions.

Copies of the draft plans were provided for residents to write their comments and suggestions directly where they were referencing. Residents drew trails onto the drafts where they thought new ones needed to be, pointed to areas that needed to be fixed and called attention to other hazards. It’s like a “Christmas list for Santa” Peri Kinder, business development employee, explained to the residents. 

City workers explained the differences between bike lanes to the residents that were in attendance. Currently, Salt Lake valley has three different categories of bike lanes. Category one is a bike lane that is separated from the road with a physical barrier. Category two is a bike lane separated from the road with paint, much like Bengal Boulevard had implemented over the summer. Category three is a bike lane that shares the road with cars, much like many of the bike lanes in downtown Salt Lake City. Cottonwood Heights also has Urban Trails that are specifically for biking and running. 

Many resident questions involved categories, planning and maintenance. In addition, there were many safety concerns. Dennis Iverson, Cottonwood Heights resident, had concerns about category three bike lanes. He doesn’t want to see any roads where there is a painted bike symbol in the middle, implying that cars and bikes respectfully share the lane. 

“Putting a sticker on the road doesn’t make it safer,” he said. 

He would like to see wider lines so there is room for designated bike lanes. He “really appreciates Cottonwood Heights doing something” about the issue. Nancy Hardy, an involved resident of Cottonwood Heights, brought up the issue of Jersey Barriers. 

“Jersey Barriers should be moved out to widen bike lanes along Wasatch until a permanent bike lane is created for safety of bikers,” she said. 

The draft plan is to be revised with resident comments and suggestions in mind, and will be presented to the council in late January or February of 2016.