Report on WFRC Mobile Active Transportation Tour
Below are seven "take-aways" that will benefit Cottonwood Heights City from Community Development Director Mike Johnson and I participating in WFRC Wasatch Front Regional Council's MATT Mobile Active Transportation Tour in Hoboken & Jersey City, New Jersey April 27-29. I travelled on a limited budget which amounted to $1,149.
1. Keen insights on how to design & build bike/ped multi-use promenades, lanes and paths that feature safety, efficacy, affordability and beauty. We are at an important moment in CH history in which a General Plan update is necessary, AND the advancement of a town center for the Hillside Plaza is in progress . We need to get this right. Walkability is imperative to the financial success of the project for both local businesses and for the enjoyment and satisfaction of residents. What is cool and functional for residents will also attract visitors to spend money in our city!
2. How to make safer the experience for all users at intersections using "daylighting". Constituents contact me regularly after having a scary near-miss experience related to a speeder, runner of red lights, or a near-miss or crash with a pedestrian or bicyclist in intersections along Highland Drive, Fort Union Blvd, SR 190 & 210, Creek Road, Danish, etc. A phased-in plan that considers contextual circumstances and focuses on the most dangerous places, is a way to begin a financially viable program to “Daylight” some Cottonwood Heights crosswalks and intersections.
3. In Hoboken, NJ, reducing local street posted speeds from 25MPH to 20MPH, renovating sidewalks and curbs, improving bike lanes, adding multi-way stops to 14 intersections, installing nine curb extensions to reduce crossing distances between streets, and restriping over 60 crosswalks improved visibility to stay "vehicular fatality-free for past 7 years".
4. Hoboken makes small safety upgrades every time it repaves or reconstructs a street, collector or arterial, rather than putting all its energy into transforming only dangerous high-traffic areas.
5. Regarding E-biking and e-scooters, with advent of electrified bikes and scooters, learned the positives and negatives, and how to realize best outcomes.
6. Funding mechanisms.
7. Outreach, education and activating community & political support for the notion that "human life is sacred. It IS possible to achieve "zero vehicular fatalities and reduced serious injury" -- after utilizing the principles of Vision Zero, Hoboken, NJ/population 57,000, has not had a vehicular fatality in seven years.
