Consultant outlines Creek Road safety study recommending moved crosswalks, beacons and sidewalk fills

Consultant Jeremy Sorrell of Methods Consulting told the Cottonwood Heights City Council on July 7 that a joint Creek Road crosswalk safety study with Sandy City identified safety and connectivity issues along the corridor and proposed short- and long-term remedies.

"The Forbush Lane intersection, there was lots of feedback on that," Sorrell said, summarizing the open-house response. He told the council the study held a May 6 open house with 45 people signing in and collected pedestrian counts, traffic volumes and a five-year crash history to identify 22 candidate locations for crossing improvements.

Sorrell and staff said the corridor’s daily traffic varies by location "between 4 and 13,000 cars a day," and that 85th‑percentile speeds are generally around 35 mph — conditions where a painted crosswalk alone is often not adequate. "If this is just a low density residential neighborhood at 25 miles per hour and there's very few cars, yeah, put in a crosswalk, that's probably good enough," Sorrell said. On higher-speed segments he recommended additional measures such as rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs), pedestrian refuge islands, bulb-outs and targeted lighting.

The study recommended several specific changes: relocating an underused crosswalk to Fourbush Lane to better serve school and neighborhood connections; moving a crosswalk near 2300 East toward Farm Brook Way; trimming trees and adding treatments at Oakdale Elementary; and striping the legal crossing at the east end of Creek Road where a stop sign exists but no marked crosswalk is present. Sorrell noted many existing crosswalks lack ADA-compliant ramps or direct sidewalk connections and said short-term actions should focus on crossing treatments while long-term work should prioritize filling sidewalk gaps and upgrading ramps to current ADA standards.

Council members pressed on design choices for tricky intersections — including whether roundabouts, closures or other reconfigurations might be needed at Forbush/Fourbush — and asked about coordination with Sandy City for crossings that straddle the jurisdictional boundary. Sorrell said Sandy offered mixed feedback on some intersections, which is why the study stopped short of a single intersection recommendation and instead emphasized pedestrian improvements and further joint analysis.

Staff and the consultant outlined next steps: finalize the written report with prioritized short- and long-term recommendations, share the presentation with councilors and city staff, and present the study to Sandy's council (Sandy's review was expected in August). Implementation will depend on funding sources, including possible Safe Routes to School or other state project grants, and further interagency coordination.

Council members praised the community engagement and asked staff to circulate the presentation and the final study to interested residents. "We appreciated working with your staff and your residents," Sorrell said, and noted the recommendations will be refined as funding and coordination details are worked out.