Passionate Glendale: California Ave redesign

Existing four-lane design

Proposed three-lane design

Wednesday night, a proposed redesign of California Avenue, including new bike lanes, was presented to the Glendale Community Council, bringing forth impassioned responses both for and against the proposal. The new design would reduce motor vehicle lanes and add bike lanes to California Avenue between 700 West and Redwood Road.
Becka Roolf, Salt Lake City's Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, presented the concept to the council after describing bike-related projects currently underway citywide and throughout the council district. This change is part of Salt Lake City's effort to implement the Complete Streets Ordinance, adopted by City Council in 2010 based on an Executive Order passed in 2006.



Complete Streets aim to accommodate all roadway users, and the Ordinance requires all road projects in the City to consider pedestrians, bicycles, transit and cars. So, as part of all 2011 road reconstruction and resurfacing projects, the Bike/Ped Program is looking for ways to accommodate walkers and bikers, as well as transit and drivers.

For Glendale, projects include slight adjustments to bike lanes on Indiana Avenue, as well as shared lane markings on Emery Street. The shared lane markings would identify Emery as a quiet, low-traffic, low-speed connection for bicycles. The biggest change, however, would be to California. The redesign would change the street from two travel lanes in each direction to one lane in each direction, while adding a center turn lane and bike lanes. An example of this change can be seen in the accompanying photographs.



Proposed only for the section of California between 700 West and Redwood Road, the project would be finished in August or September of this year. Other sections of California Avenue and 1300 South would be assessed in future years.

Roolf said the shift would primarily benefit motor vehicle safety: adding a center turn lane reduces up to four different types of crashes. These crashes are generally caused by left-turning cars stopping in a travel lane before turning across two lanes of traffic. Although reducing travel lanes for cars, this design accommodates roughly the same number of car trips per day. For more information on this type of design, check out the Road Diet Handbook - Overview.

The presentation brought out a mixed response from the crowd, but ended with an applause in favor of bike lanes. Initially, cries of "you and your funny freakin' bike lanes" and "that's discrimination" (against cars, in favor of bikes) were countered with testimonials against the current dangers of the roadway. The final respondent drew applause, stating that as a resident, he should be able to ride his bike on the street, and that he supports any change reducing the perception of California Avenue as a freeway.

The Salt Lake City Division of Transportation is currently seeking feedback on this proposal from residents of California Avenue through telephone, e-mail and an online survey.

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