Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
League staff recommends opposing new clause in road diet moratorium bill after members raise safety and local-control concerns
Summary
League staff updated members Feb. 24 on House Bill 465 and a Senate substitute (SP 195) that would restrict certain local 'highway reduction' actions and require state-level study before implementation.
League staff updated members Feb. 24 on House Bill 465 and a Senate substitute (SP 195) that would restrict certain local 'highway reduction' actions and require state-level study before implementation. The substitute added a Salt Lake City–specific moratorium element and a UDOT-led environmental/mobility study requirement; staff recommended switching a prior support position to oppose the substitute as drafted.
What the bills would do
As substituted on the Senate floor, the language would: (a) impose a moratorium tied to specified highway-reduction actions (the substitute singled out Salt Lake City), and (b) require UDOT to conduct a mobility and environmental impact analysis for highway-reduction strategies. The League's staff signaled that the new text is broader than originally discussed and could chill local multimodal projects.
Member concerns
Several municipal officials said lane reductions and multimodal conversions have improved safety and traffic flow in local examples, and warned a blanket moratorium would hinder local traffic-safety measures. A committee member asked for city-level data showing which municipalities have implemented or plan to implement such actions to inform advocacy.
Mary Nadalski (council member) said members were seeing a rise in pedestrian incidents and said that was reason for caution about statewide constraints: "We've seen a recent spike in autopeds," she said, noting that traffic-safety measures are a current municipal priority.
Staff view and next steps
Staff said they had worked with stakeholders and legislators in recent days but that the substitute’s targeting raised a principle-of-local-control concern; the recommendation was to oppose SP 195 as drafted while continuing negotiations to narrow the problem the bill seeks to fix. Staff asked members to provide data on which localities have taken specific lane-configuration or multimodal steps.
Ending
League staff will continue discussions with bill sponsors and UDOT; members were asked to provide local data on past and planned roadway conversions to shape amendments.
