UDOT Cuts a Vital Connection on the Upcoming 300 West Bikeway
Back at the end of May, we got official word that UDOT doubled back on the city’s plan to extend the 300 West Bikeway up to 300 South along Pioneer Park, ending it prematurely at 400 South and missing the direct connection to one of the city’s oldest and most-used bikeways on 300 South.
You might wonder, is this the first piece of infrastructure to get chopped by SB 195? The answer is technically no, as this is a UDOT-owned section of street on 300 West. But the timing does raise alarm bells and a UDOT spokesman has cited SB 195 and the need to study any “highway narrowing” strategies in the city. But Salt Lake and UDOT have been coordinating on this section of bikeway for at least a year, and the city worked hard to incorporate this vital connection in the bike network, while maintaining all existing vehicle travel lanes on the UDOT-owned segment.
The compromise that was originally planned was to replace the on-street parking on the Pioneer Park side of the street with a curb-protected bikeway. When you think about it, this would have been a great outcome, even in UDOT’s eyes—they want to keep cars moving on their highway routes, and on-street parking can result in congestion and increased crash rates when there are parking movements on a high-speed street. And by having a curb-protected bikeway, the physical narrowing of the street—which results in more consistent driving speeds—would remain intact regardless of seasonal parking utilization.
The last second request by UDOT forced city planners to cross out this section of bike path in their design plan.
So what gives? Why did UDOT suddenly double back on improving the safety and vibrancy of the street? We can't provide anything more than theories, but the word on the street is that there are a handful of well-connected individuals whose opinion apparently matters a whole lot more than the general population and movement of the city. When we hear lawmakers say things like “the city doesn't do good engagement for its projects!” that really translates to “my very important buddy wasn't given enough priority and we don't care about the average Salt Laker’s opinion on how their tax dollars are spent.” We end up with UDOT preserving the property value of real estate moguls instead of UDOT’s actual mission of moving people safely. Abundant parking can increase property value, and thus it’s not just about the parking itself.
If you're reading this newsletter, you very well know the city does A LOT of engagement—so much engagement, in fact, that advocates sigh when they hear that the city wants to delay implementation and study another street. It just doesn't add up.
But Sweet Streeters might ask, “Why don't we just pivot to having the city build the bikeway inside the footprint of Pioneer Park?”
There are many considerations here. First and most importantly, by assuming we are powerless straight away and immediately pivoting to putting this all on the city and its park assets, we are truly making ourselves powerless. We must remind ourselves that we haven't even seen SB 195’s impacts yet (and they will come very soon). We're going to need to stand up for our city! As for this particular bikeway, the design that the city and UDOT came up with was the clear solution. It would have been a straight shot up and down 300 West and was ready to be built this summer.
Now, do we want the city to go back to the drawing board with their already-in-motion Pioneer Park plans, potentially impacting the amount of total park space we have, the number of mature trees lining the street, utility relocations and a whole lot more money? To be clear, we do want the city to look into alternatives for closing this gap in the cycling network, but we simply don't think that immediately turning our attention from the state and UDOT and tearing land away from the Parks department is the right move. We need to stand up for our city and our streets.
Here's our suggestion: continue to complete city feedback as normal, but let's also make a point to let UDOT and our *state* politicians know how we feel. After all, they weaseled their way in and claimed to want more public engagement, right? And since this is a state issue, this means Sweet Streeters throughout the county and Wasatch Front can help out in a big way.
Salt Lake City tends to be overly targeted by state politics, but even if you don’t live in Salt Lake, this is also one step closer to similar impacts in your city. What's to say that lawmakers and the bike-, transit- and pedestrian-hating donors who support their campaigns won't start holding up traffic calming projects everywhere? And then there’s the impact SLC has on demonstrating the success and enjoyment of people-friendly streets on the many people who visit us.
Construction as of July 2, 2025. The concrete barrier has been installed between 400 South and 600 South. This photo faces Pioneer Park, where the protected bike lane would have extended to if not for UDOT’s change of heart.
