City Council zeros in on traffic problems
Logan Main Street’s “traffic signals on every corner” are used as a pattern of what not to do by Skip Hudson, primary consultant for the city’s Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP).
“Sorry to tell you this, but I use Logan as a bad example all over the state,” Hudson said.
The comment was made as a part of a discussion at Wednesday’s Logan City Municipal Council Meeting on how to relieve congestion on Logan’s main roads relating to the feasibility of the LRTP plan.
The LRTP is a plan designed to help the system work better, Hudson said.
“We’re looking for regional solutions to reduce the amount of time people spend driving around,” he said.
Many of Logan’s north-to-south roads have heavy traffic flow already, and looking toward the year 2025 shows an even worse picture for congestion, Hudson said.
Hudson said traffic engineers use a scale from ‘A’ to ‘F’ to rate the level of service a road provides which is related to congestion and traffic flow.
Logan’s main roads received ‘F’s.
One solution which has been discussed frequently is turning 1000 West into a bypass truck route to move through traffic off Main Street, city council member Tami Pyfer said.
Hudson said the west-side bypass would not make any sense because most people were driving to downtown instead of through it.
“Only 7 percent of trips bypassed the community,” Hudson said. “The destination is Logan.”
Council chair Karen Borg said, “Basically making 1000 West a bypass would not make a hill of beans difference.”
Pyfer said she and various people at neighborhood meetings understood Mayor Doug Thompson believed the number one recommendation to relieve congestion was to widen 1000 West, but Thompson said he did not ever mean to say that and he apologized for any misunderstanding.
In fact, the 1000 West project was at the bottom of the priority list when Hudson scored 25 projects in order of cost effectiveness.
“Tenth West is the only project with a negative ranking score that made it this far in the process,” Hudson said.
Hudson gave other recommendations including installing median islands, restricting left-turns, coordinating signals, managing access and removing parking along Main Street.
Other items discussed at the meeting included the development of “Angel’s Landing” playground designed for children of all abilities.
Keith Christensen, a licensed landscape architect who works with the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University, presented the project.
Christensen said he had a special interest because he is the father of a child with muscular dystrophy.
The goals of the project are to provide social inclusion and to surpass Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines to provide a place where all children can play together, Christensen said.
Borg said she was especially interested in the project because she has a background in special education and said she saw the benefits of removing the barriers so all children can interact.
Presentations were also made concerning budget resolutions to be adopted into the city’s budget plan.
All were adopted unanimously with little discussion.
Action item 02-19 to authorize a fee increase at the Logan City Golf Course was also passed unanimously after discussion at the March 6 city council meeting.
Coy Ashby presented a proposal to purchase two vehicles for the city’s motor pool: A 15-passengar van to replace one in which a roof caved in this winter due to heavy snow and a van to be used by the police force as a SWAT van.
Because the item was a workshop item, the council could not vote on it and no action was taken, although council member Stephen Thompson suggested the vehicles not be purchased because this was a “good chance to cut the motor pool and save some money.”