S A L T L A K E C I T Y Transportation Master Plan April 16, 1996 Salt Lake City Transportation Master Plan Introduction TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Master Plan Development Process ...............................................................................................ii I. Salt Lake City Vision and Strategic Plan......................................................................ii II. City Council Transportation Policies ............................................................................iii III. Public Input Process and Focus on Priorities...............................................................iv Your Transportation Master Plan ..................................................................................................vi Your Transportation Master Plan Guiding Principles.........................................................................................................................1 Regional Planning.........................................................................................................................2 Land Use ......................................................................................................................................3 Street System ...............................................................................................................................4 Transportation Demand Management...........................................................................................7 Parking .........................................................................................................................................8 Public Transportation ....................................................................................................................10 Bicycles.........................................................................................................................................12 Pedestrians...................................................................................................................................13 Freight Rail ...................................................................................................................................14 Funding.........................................................................................................................................15 Air Quality .....................................................................................................................................16 Education......................................................................................................................................17 Transportation Master Plan Implementation..................................................................................18 Appendix.......................................................................................................................................19 Glossary of Terms Bibliography and Suggested Reading Key Participants in the Development of the Transportation Master Plan April 16, 1996 i Salt Lake City Transportation Master Plan Introduction Master Plan Development Process A summary of each of these three steps follows. Your Transportation Master Plan was developed with many opportunities for I. Salt Lake City Vision and public input. The goal of City staff and Strategic Plan the consultant team was to give everyone, with interest in the trans- The vision for the transportation future portation future of Salt Lake City ample of Salt Lake City is influenced by the opportunities to present their concerns, Salt Lake City Vision and Strategic Plan, ideas, and comments. published in December of 1993. At the inception of the Transportation SALT LAKE CITY VISION STATEMENT Master Plan process, a master plan We envision Salt Lake City as a advisory committee was created. prominent sustainable city: the Members included residents from each international crossroads of western of the city council districts as well as America, blending family life styles, representatives of business groups and vibrant artistic and cultural resources, other organizations. During the and a strong sense of environmental development of this document, the stewardship with robust economic advisory committee met at least monthly activity to create a superb place for to review issues and give valuable people to live, work, grow, invest and feedback regarding the master plan visit. development. A technical advisory committee made up of City, Utah Transit Authority, Utah Department of The strategic plan is the culmination of Transportation, Wasatch Front Regional an effort to proactively define a vision Council, Salt Lake City School District for Salt Lake City’s future and show how and Downtown Alliance representatives it can be achieved. This Transportation assisted in the preparation of technical Master Plan is consistent with the vision information. included in the Strategic Plan. The strategic plan includes descriptions of A three step approach was used to Salt Lake City which will exist when the gather input used in the development of vision is achieved. The following this master plan: statements relate to transportation: • I. Compatibility Review of the Salt The land use practices, trans- Lake City Vision and Strategic portation patterns, and consumption Plan habits of Salt Lake citizens reflect a strong commitment to preserve and II. Establishment of Salt Lake City enhance the natural setting of the Council Transportation Policies. City. You, the public, take environ- mental preservation seriously. III. Extensive Public Input Process on Transportation issues and Focus on • Salt Lake City neighborhoods Priorities. provide a safe environment for families and promote responsible citizenship among neighbors. ii April 16, 1996 Salt Lake City Transportation Master Plan Introduction Citizens care about their environments, particularly the neighborhood communities. Downtown. • Salt Lake City sustains a vibrant 3. The Council discourages through local economy that takes full traffic on streets other than arterial advantage of its competitive geo- streets in residential neighborhoods. graphic advantages for tourism, distribution, communications, and 4. The Council will focus on ways to transportation; as well as its transport people to their desired competitive labor force advantages destinations, not on moving motor- for multi-lingual services, high ized vehicles at the expense of technology, and health care. The neighborhoods. City has a clear sense of its niche in the global economy. 5. The Council will make and support transportation decisions that in- • Salt Lake City government excels in crease the quality of life in the City, the delivery of economical, world not necessarily the quantity of class public services and also par- development. ticipates with other valley jurisdic- tions in cooperative arrangements to 6. The Council supports the creation of contain costs and resolve regional a series of linkages (provisions and problems. Local government incentives) to foster appropriate works. growth in currently defined growth centers. II. City Council Transportation Policies 7. The Council supports more public- private partnerships in which all who This master plan is also influenced by benefit from capital improvements the transportation policies of the Salt participate in funding those im- Lake City Council which held a retreat provements. on October 29, 1994 to determine how it should approach a variety of trans- 8. The Council supports considering the portation issues facing the City in the impacts on neighborhoods on at next 25 years. The Council arrived at least an equal basis with the impacts nine policy statements that make up the on transportation systems in the standard of balancing access to the City transportation master plan and and preserving neighborhoods: related planning. 1. The Council considers neigh- 9. The Council supports giving all borhoods, residential and com- neighborhoods equal consideration mercial, as the building blocks of the in transportation decisions. community. 2. The Council encourages the preser- III. Public Input Process and Focus vation and enhancement of living on Priorities April 16, 1996 iii Salt Lake City Transportation Master Plan Introduction During the month of November 1994, restrictive traffic controls elsewhere to eight public open houses were held to minimize through traffic in residential encourage the public to express their neighborhoods. concerns and suggestions regarding transportation issues in Salt Lake City. Arterial streets would be expected to carry higher volumes of traffic. The vehicle carrying capacity on these streets would need to be increased through construction of additional lanes and intersection improvements. Residential street traffic controls would have to be constructed to restrict commuter traffic. Improvements to transit in this alternative would be limited to those already in the process, such as the planned north-south light rail corridor. Efforts to reduce travel would be limited to current programs. Because of the emphasis on meeting On March 11, 1995, a Transportation the needs and mitigating the impacts of Master Plan working paper was the automobile, the relative cost of this introduced to the public. The working alternative is high. The associated air paper presented a summary of the input quality of this alternative is the worst of of the November meetings in the form of the three. three approaches to the transportation future of Salt Lake City.