By Phil Sarnoff –
A Goal Without a Plan is Just a Wish
In 2016, Bike Utah launched our Wasatch Bike Plan with a goal of every community in the four Wasatch Front counties (Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, and Weber), developing and adopting bicycle and pedestrian master plans (also known as active transportation plans). We started this campaign because our lives don’t stop at municipal boundaries and neither should bicycle routes. In order to make bicycling a reasonable transportation and recreation choice for everyone along the Wasatch Front, every community needs to be engaged. When this campaign was launched, only 13% of the communities in the four counties had adopted active transportation plans.
Over the course of this campaign, we worked with numerous partners:
- Metropolitan planning organizations, such as Wasatch Front Regional Council and Mountainland Association of Governments provide technical and financial support in development of the plans.
- County staff provide technical assistance and connections to communities interested in developing plans.
- The Utah Department of Transportation, local health departments, municipal staff, bicycle advocates, and the general public contribute valuable insights so the plans are as comprehensive and useful as possible.
The Wasatch Front Regional Council recently announced the projects awarded funding in 2019. We are pleased to report that all of the communities that requested Active Transportation Plan Funding this year have received it. The communities are: Sandy, Draper, Millcreek, Midvale, Murray, Taylorsville, Holladay, Clearfield, Sunset, Syracuse, Clinton, and West Point.
This means that of the four counties that make up the Wasatch Front, 63% of the communities have a plan adopted or funded. 84% of the population in these 4 counties live in a community that now has a plan adopted or funded.
In the adjacent map, the GREEN communities have adopted plans and should be in the process of implementing them. The YELLOW communities have the funding to create an active transportation plan and are in the plan development process.
Here’s how you can get involved:
- If you live in a community with an adopted plan, you can follow up with your community about what they are doing to implement the plan. Feel free to reach out to us at Bike Utah if you don’t know who to contact.
- If you live in a community with a plan that is funded or in process, you can get involved in that planning process to ensure that it is meeting the bicycling and walking needs of your community. Feel free to reach out to us at Bike Utah if you don’t know who to contact.
- If you live in a community without a plan, send us an email and we can help get the process rolling.
- If you live outside of the Wasatch Front, we are still able to connect you to resources to get a plan going in your community. Send us a message.
To learn more about the Wasatch Bike Plan visit www.bikeutah.org/wbp
