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SUU student briefs Cedar City Council on campus active-transportation hazards and fixes
Summary
A Southern Utah University student presented a GIS-backed assessment identifying pedestrian and bicycle safety failures near campus and recommended lower speed limits, more crosswalks and separated shared-use paths; council members urged coordination with UDOT and city staff.
Jesse Feaster, a geospatial science student at Southern Utah University, told the Cedar City Council at its April 16 work meeting that his capstone study found numerous pedestrian and bicycle safety hazards around the SUU campus and recommended traffic-calming measures, additional crosswalks and separated shared-use paths.
Feaster said his mixed methods review — a 158-response survey, field observations, UDOT crash data from 2018–2025 and GIS heat maps — shows frequent "close calls" for people walking and biking, concentrated at several campus intersections and a steep stretch of 200 South that residents and students use to access housing. "Human behavior, people are taking the path of least resistance," Feaster said, explaining why jaywalking clusters at a hill near student housing.
The study noted campus growth — SUU has doubled in size over a decade and grew 2.7% in the last year — and reported that 81% of survey respondents said they would use active transportation more often if infrastructure were safer. Feaster mapped hot spots where pedestrian/nonmotor-vehicle crashes occurred and where he counted high rates of jaywalking during morning class periods. He said driver awareness, missing or unlit signage and obstructed sightlines (including a large evergreen at one corner) contribute to risks.
Feaster recommended lowering speed limits on corridors that serve the university, adding marked crosswalks on 200 South and 300 West, adding left-turn signals or pedestrian lead intervals at busy lights, and constructing two-way shared-use paths that separate walking traffic from wheeled devices. He used UDOT accident layers to show that an intervention (a four‑way stop) corresponded with fewer crashes at one location in subsequent years.
City Engineer Ken Fugal and other staff said some measures already are in progress. Fugal noted staff are working with UDOT on lowering speeds at the hill on 200 South and recommended Feaster coordinate his findings with UDOT staff for streets the state controls. Council members and staff encouraged further study and directed staff to continue coordinating with SUU and UDOT on near-term, implementable changes.
No formal council action was taken; the item was presented for review and to inform staff follow-up. Feaster said he plans the capstone as a handoff for future students to continue mapping and evaluation efforts.
