SL County approves funding for first ever Bicycle Coordinator & bicycling transportation budget - UPDATED WITH INTERVIEW

County Councilman Bradshaw
spearheaded the funding approval.
(Photo: Facebook)

Raise your hands high in jubilation and please send a thank you message to your county council member for their great work. We received news today that the Salt Lake County Council has approved funding for a new Bicycle Coordinator / Transportation Planning position and a $150,000 bicycling transportation budget.

If you live in Salt Lake City, your County Council representative is Arlyn Bradshaw. Click on the link to email him. Councilman Bradshaw spearheaded the effort to get a Bicycle Coordinator along with the mid-year budget request from Mayor Corroon for a bicycling budget. SL County's new Public Works Director Patrick Leary is also very bicycle-friendly and is an excellent asset at the County level.


During a phone interview with Councilman Bradshaw, we discussed his push for a Bicycle Coordinator in the budget request initially put forth by Mayor Peter Corroon:

"We have had quite a bit of success lately at the County level. The SL County Bicycle Advisory Committee has been very successful and influential in educating the elected officials about bicycling and an urgent need for funding and direction in recent years, especially. 

"In the past, some individuals have been more adversarial, but Chad [Mullins]'s leadership has been so valuable.

"Mayor Corroon, a very wise fiscal conservative, suggested a mid-year bicycle program budget request to the Council for $150,000. He would have gotten only the budget, but I knew that we needed to budget for a personnel position, too; a bicycle coordinator. 

"With support from constituents and council members alike, I was successful in inserting and getting approved the Bicycle Coordinator position in the mid-year budget. The funds for the Bicycle Coordinator position come from the Municipal Taxes Budget, which comes from the unincorporated areas of Salt Lake County (Millcreek Township, Emigration Township, Magna, Kearns, Copperton), and not from my district (Salt Lake City and South Salt Lake)."

Arlyn Bradshaw says that "he doesn't ride as often" as he should, but that he occasionally commutes from his home near the Capitol to the County Gov't Complex at 2100 South & State. Councilman Bradshaw explains why he doesn't ride more often:

"My full time job as the Assistant Dean of Students at the University of Utah means that my commute involves a lot more hills than a normal downtown commute [Think Capitol Hill-University of Utah-County Complex]."

Chad Mullins, chair of the Salt Lake County Bicycle Advisory Committee, said,

"I believe this is a first for both -- previous County budgets for bicycle funding had been for 'trails' projects."

In addition to this great news, the final draft of the final draft of the County’s Bicycling Best Practices was recently reviewed. This will be a wonderful tool for the planning, development and implementation of consistent bicycling policies and infrastructure throughout the Valley. The County Mayor’s Office has also recently added an intern, Jeffrey Leonard, to assist the SLCBAC and bicycling planning.

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