Salt Lake City voices concerns on bill calling for new UDOT partnership, other changes

SALT LAKE CITY — A proposed Utah bill calls on Salt Lake City to partner with state transportation officials before enacting any new traffic safety measures, following a study required in 2025.

However, leaders of Utah's capital city fear that it will undermine recent efforts to improve safety and respond to residential concerns. It could also alter what some of the city's recent road projects look like.

Sen. Wayne Harper, R-Taylorsville, unveiled SB242, this year's transportation omnibus bill, on Tuesday. It features many subjects discussed over interim sessions this year, as well as a repeal of anything tied to a study of Salt Lake roads in last year's SB195, the transportation bill that ultimately ended with a state study of certain city roads.

It instead calls for Salt Lake City to agree with the Utah Department of Transportation on a partnership over future road project decisions. It would focus primarily on the two busiest types of roads in the city, Harper said.

The entities would rank roads on four tiers within an area that stretches as far north as 600 North and east as Foothill Drive, as well as Redwood Road to the west and the southern boundary of the city. That's farther south and west than last year's bill.

It would prohibit any highway reduction strategies on Tier 1 roads in the city, including any designated highways or anything else dubbed a regionally significant transportation facility.

Projects would be allowed on roads in the second tier, which are considered "a corridor important to the transportation network but not designed or anticipated to carry" higher traffic volumes than a first-tier road. However, a data collection and impact analysis, community and business campaign, and approval from the Utah Department of Transportation would be required before such a project could move forward.

Third and fourth-tier roads, which are considered lower priorities, would not be impacted.

The bill would add provisions for what projects can look like, including the sizes of lanes, largely to accommodate the mix of delivery, freight and other large vehicles that typically share busier roads with other users, but not the smaller roads. It also calls on the city to engage with "stakeholders" and state transportation officials on plans that would reduce three or more street parking stalls.

It allows the city and UDOT to figure out what future projects look like, as well, Harper said.

"(They are) guidelines upon which Salt Lake City and UDOT will enter into a better partnership to maintain state and city assets in moving traffic around," Harper told KSL on Wednesday. "There's going to be an agreement between Salt Lake City and UDOT in order to implement what those two entities deem to be the best thing for transit and transportation going forward."

Another section calls on the city to adjust some of its recent traffic calming measures and highway reduction strategies, which stoked confusion among city officials. It calls on the city to "mitigate the impacts" of traffic calming measures and highway reduction strategies along sections of 300 West, 200 South and 400 South near downtown, many of which were recently completed by the city.

Salt Lake City wouldn't have to rip out any of the recent bike or bus lanes, paths or other infrastructure in those areas, but the bill seeks to have it review those project sections and make modifications to improve them for all road users, Harper explained. It also calls for more signage to improve traffic clarity.

"There is no word in there that says remove," he said. "It says mitigate. We have businesses that contacted the city, contacted me, saying, 'Hey, these new improvements put in, now impact on my ability to get delivery into my building.' Others said there used to be signage where people knew where to come into our parking lot, and that's not there anymore."

Harper adds that the bill's language was crafted after several months of discussions with Salt Lake City over the phrasing of the piece of the bill.

Salt Lake City's concern

Salt Lake City plans to conduct a review of the bill before officially weighing in on it, said Angela Price, the city's legislative affairs director, when she brought it up to city leaders hours after the bill was unveiled on Tuesday.

Related:

Salt Lake City unveils plans to address future road projects in response to UDOT

Utah's capital city says it's prepared to take "tangible action" to bolster its transportation system, following a state-led study of recent road projects.

But members of the Salt Lake City Council voiced worries that the bill could erode efforts to address neighborhood traffic concerns, which they say the projects are in response to. Last year's study ultimately found that lane reduction had little impact on traffic, with crash safety improving in areas where vehicular mobility worsened.

More traffic calming remains one of the primary requests residents make every year, but still some neighborhoods don't have many, if any, especially on the west side, said Salt Lake City Councilwoman Victoria Petro. She's unsure why the project would include more of the west side, which isn't a "commercial center," or if a state agency can understand nuances between neighborhoods.

Others on the council wondered why the state continues to pry at projects that aim to improve traffic safety, arguing they wouldn't do the same for other safety issues.

The city averaged 16.4 criminal homicides per year between 2020 and 2024, and 16.6 vehicular deaths on roads outside of freeways in the city, per city police and transportation records. There were also more than 60 serious injuries from vehicular crashes every year during that time, too.

"Why would the state not want us to address one of the leading causes of death in the city? Like if it were a murder rate, we would be having an entirely different conversation about the state wanting us to do more to try to bring that number down. … All we're trying to do is preserve people's lives," said Councilman Chris Wharton, adding that safety measures are part of city efforts to bring families back to the city.

The next steps

It's unclear if SB242 will remain as written in its initial version. Last year's SB195 ultimately went through seven substitutes before the language was finalized, mostly after conversations between the Utah Legislature and Salt Lake City. The conversation ended with the city OK with the final version that paused some projects for a year.

The city "strategically collaborates with bill sponsors, community partners and fellow municipalities as legislation" that go through legislative processes, said Andrew Wittenberg, a spokesman for the Salt Lake City Mayor's Office.

Harper said he expects to continue having conversations with Salt Lake City over the bill's language, too.

All bills must be approved by both chambers of the Utah Legislature by March 6. If approved, some parts of the bill would go into effect in May, while other parts wouldn't go into effect until July 1.

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