LET’S DO AWAY WITH THE INSANE TRAFFIC!

The photo above shows heavy trucks accelerating around the corner of 600 N & 300 W where a truck hit a pedestrian in 2019.

Our Livable Neighborhood?

Has your household been affected by extreme levels of aggressive heavy truck traffic, large volumes of speeding commuter cut-through traffic or raging motorcycles, tuner cars and modified pickups?

We encourage a number of subtle changes to the roadway to improve efficiency and safety and restore the livable neighborhood character needed for residents to get a full night’s sleep and have the option to walk or bike from one’s home to the library, school, restaurant, store, Capitol, or Warm Springs Park without fear.

At the end of 2019 the CHNC Transportation Committee was created to work with the community to identify the traffic issues, set goals, and develop a transportation plan to restore the livable qualities of Salt Lake’s oldest and one of the fastest growing neighborhoods.

We are collaborating with residents, governmental leaders and staff, transportation engineers, academics, school principals, library managers, environmental experts, business managers and various city and state agencies. To ensure an efficient and effective process we will follow the Three E’s of enduring transportation solutions: Education/Engineering/Enforcement.

Your participation will help to keep this project on schedule. In addition to sending comments to the mayor, city council, and neighborhood council it would be immensely helpful to post suggestions directly onto the interactive neighborhood map, provided by the SLC Transportation Division: https://app.conceptboard.com/board/9iab-rs8p-yffn-b7c5-yfom 

(Notes: This board may not work with some browsers. We recommend Google Chrome. When commenting, please drag & position comment boxes to keep street images clear.)

CHNC Transportation Projects

#1 Heavy Truck Traffic Management
Over the past several years the commuter corridors of 300 W and 600 N (also residential/commercial streets) have been dominated by teams of aggressively driven 18-wheelers. Anyone within earshot (several blocks away) will attest to the incessant high-decibel noise of as many as 170 heavy trucks/hour that rumble through residential/commercial neighborhoods at excessive speeds.

Meanwhile, ample untapped capacity awaits on more efficient alternative industrial routes. “Preferred route” signage, speed limit moderation, light sequencing and prioritization, and lane striping re-design are some of the low-cost engineering measures that are being explored to shift heavy trucks off residential/commercial blocks and onto high-capacity industrial routes.

#2 Commuter Cut-through Traffic
Contrary to state and city transportation policies commuters have been allowed to spill into the steep, narrow secondary streets of the Capitol Hill-Marmalade neighborhood. Although residents have raised concerns for years, only recently have engineers begun to address the root causes. Dangerously high speed limits, coupled with a lack of traffic calming features and enforcement have degraded Utah’s oldest residential neighborhood into a loud and dangerous speedway.In an effort to restrict cut-through commuters from small secondary neighborhood streets, engineers are testing and evaluating “No Left Turn” signs, partial barriers, traffic light design and other traffic calming methods.

#3 Capitol Employee & Legislator Cut-through Traffic
Throughout the year and especially during the legislative session employees, legislators, agency reps and lobbyists often skip the officially recommended corridors to and from the Capitol and cut through the steep and narrow secondary neighborhood streets as they ignore speed limits, stops signs, and pedestrian rights of way. We are meeting with Capitol offices, evaluating traffic calming engineering, and developing education and enforcement strategies.

#4 Speeding Motorcycles, Tuner Cars & Modified Pickups
From early in the morning through the wee hours of the night loud vehicles scream up and down neighborhood streets from the lower-elevation streets of I-15 or N Temple all the way to Ensign Peak. We are working on a program to reduce speed and enforce the noise ordinance to prevent the use of the neighborhood as a race tack.

Partners
Area Businesses
Area Residents
Capitol Hill Neighborhood Council
Marmalade Library
SLC City Council
SLC Mayor’s Office
SLC Planning Department
SLC Police Department
SLC Transportation Division
Utah Department of Transportation
Utah Transit Authority
Wasatch Front Regional Council
Washington Elementary
West High School

3 Graphs That Explain Why 20 MPH Should Be the Limit on City Streets

Let your concerns be known

Leave a comment here on this page, below,
or please feel free to contact us with issues and ideas by emailing Brian Hutchinson (CHNC Transportation Committee Chair) directly here

Photo by B Hutchinson