Salt Lake City says last-second tweak to Utah transportation study is ‘concerning'

Yahoo

06-03-2025

The Utah House of Representatives passed an omnibus transportation bill late Tuesday, but with yet another adjustment to a portion about a Salt Lake City transportation study that the city finds 'concerning.'
The House voted 60-14 to pass SB195 — now on its fifth version, which its sponsors had viewed as a compromise to concerns the city brought up about a one-year pause in implementing road safety projects. However, critics say a slight change in its language since it cleared a House committee last week could derail the compromise.
The Utah Senate refused to concur with the substitute Wednesday evening, sending the issue to a conference committee to resolve.
The fifth substitute had called on a "highway reduction strategy" to review "permanently reducing the number of motorized vehicle travel lanes" along with a handful of other strategies that "may increase congestion for motor vehicles" on arterial or collector roads.
But the bill language was adjusted again before Tuesday's vote to switch the language back to "highway." Rep. Kay Christofferson, R-Lehi, the bill's floor sponsor, said it's meant to reflect state roads in the city. The Utah Department of Transportation manages some of the city's roads, including state highways and roads by freeways.
He said the substitute would still allow the city to move forward with roadway safety projects that are "already planned and going." The study would evaluate any potential impacts that safety projects have on traffic, including impacts on the arterial and collector roads.
"We took that language out — the moratorium — so we just said, 'We're going to evaluate future projects,'" he said. "I feel like — after talking to the city leaders — we came to a position where we're OK with that."
However, Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, said the slight change to "highway" in the language could have wider impacts.
"When we use the word highway, that includes all local and state roads," she said. "I just really have concerns with this language because I know the good sponsors have been working with Salt Lake City — and I don't know if Salt Lake City has had an opportunity to look at this amendment."
The vote took place late Tuesday as Salt Lake City meetings had just ended. A spokesperson for the Salt Lake City Mayor's Office told KSL.com Wednesday that the city views the latest version as "concerning" again, adding that the city is working with its legislative team and legislative leadership to address it.
Rachel Otto, chief of staff for Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, had thanked the bill's sponsors for the original language in the fifth substitute last week.
"It's really crucial for Salt Lake City to enact traffic safety measures and make sure that we have a multimodal transportation system that functions safely for all users," she said at the time. "We also want to be sensitive to the growth that Salt Lake City is seeing and ensuring that we are really building a city that works for everyone."
Salt Lake City recently approved a budget amendment that included funding more protected bike lanes at Capitol Hill, as well as bike and pedestrian crossing improvements along West Temple.
The road safety advocacy group Sweet Streets called the version that passed Tuesday "its worst form yet," asserting that it "reneged on the compromises" made last week.
The Utah Senate previously voted to approve a version of the bill that included a one-year moratorium on road safety projects in Salt Lake City, on Feb. 20. Sen. Wayne Harper, R-Taylorsville, the bill's sponsor, proposed the fifth substitute after meeting with the city over its concerns.
All bills must clear the House and Senate by the end of Friday and then be signed by Gov. Spencer Cox in order to become law.