Short-Range Transportation Project Recommendations
Salt Lake City’s council-adopted, transportation-related master plans provide many recommendations for specific projects to transform our city’s transportation network, particularly improving the facilities, conditions, and service for transit, walking, and bicycling. The city’s vision master plan, Plan Salt Lake, is also clear about the importance of transportation investments with an eye to improved air quality, sustainability, and livability. Some area or neighborhood plans also recommend specific projects.
Potential projects are also suggested by residents, other agencies, or elected officials. State or regional agencies, such as the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) or the Utah Transit Authority (UTA), also initiate projects, some at the request of Salt Lake City.
With a long list of hundreds of potential transportation projects, questions arise:
- Which projects should be considered when the Transportation Division applies for Capital Improvement Program funds, or outside grants?
- Should the loudest voices prevail?
- What about those who are less comfortable interacting with governmental entities?
To aid the Salt Lake City Transportation Division and our partner agencies in answering these questions and providing project recommendations to our elected officials, the Transportation Division has created a database that looks at equity (through demographic data), safety (through crash data), sustainability considerations, pavement condition, master plan recommendations, and potential for partnering with other agencies.
This tool is used, along with professional judgment and community knowledge, to develop a proposed list of projects for City Council consideration in the annual Capital Improvement Program. Additionally, staff consult the project database when making recommendations for the city’s Capital Facilities Plan, a compilation of likely projects in the 10-year horizon.
Intersection, signal, or crossing improvements are represented as points, or “dots” and are scored based on a 1/4 mile walking distance around each location.
Street corridors or trails are represented as lines, such as the 9-Line Trail or the Highland Avenue street corridor.
Land use or small area circulation studies are represented as areas, as are the Local Link project in Sugar House or the 1700 South TRAX / Ballpark Study.
In 2022 and beyond, possible updates to the scoring tool would further consider pavement conditions in the 10-year timeframe, a change away from heat mapping of crash data, possible weighting of particular criteria, connectivity considerations, and additional master plans. The project scoring may also be automated with computer programming.
The result of this technical work is a proposed list of staff-recommended projects for council consideration, both in the City’s annual budget cycle and in short-range documents such as the 10-year Capital Facilities Plan.
Click the link below to open the All Projects List – sorted by type and score – WORKING DRAFT as of September 2020: