Construction was no picnic, but there's finally space for everyone on 300 West
On The Street
By Benjamin Wood @BjaminWood
If I had a dollar for every time I heard complaints about construction on 300 West, I'd have enough to buy a new Ebike, maybe something with suspension this time. It's been a slog and, according to the city, it's finished!
Last Friday, I checked it out at 2 a.m. and again at 10 a.m., because that's the kind of thing you do when you live in Salt Lake City and don't just visit for a few hours. To be clear, the work isn't done—one block still has (or at least had then) a median-shaped hole in the ground and private developments continue to spill onto the asphalt. But all lanes are open, meaning 300 West is back to being a 5-lane surface highway, albeit now with space for human bodies.
Did you know that before this project, 300 West did not have a consistent sidewalk, let alone space for cyclists? That meant that for decades, the message from our government to anyone outside a private vehicle was, "Get Lost or Get Dead." Think two years of construction is bad? Try a lifetime of hostile indifference from the built environment.
Walking is a very good thing—the more people who do it, the better literally everything works. But if you want people to swim, you have to build a pool, and if you want people to walk, you have to build a decent sidewalk.
Utah's sidewalks, generally, suck ass. In many cases they're nonexistent, and that's before we talk about how most businesses force pedestrians to cross a parking lot to reach their door.
What's particularly interesting about the 300 West redesign is how it didn't take space from drivers. There were five lanes before and there are five lanes now, plus a cycle track, sidewalks, safe crossings and landscaping. On-street parking was removed, but it's a pretty good trade when you consider the ocean of free stalls at the big-box stores.
Insufficient roadspace is not what prevents us from improving conditions for pedestrians and cyclists—we haven't bothered because it's not seen as necessary. On 300 West, a complete reconstruction with major utility improvements added complexity to the project, but other corridors could undergo a meaningful facelift with little more than paint.
Depending on the block, State Street has up to nine vehicle lanes. Each lane is 12 feet wide but needs only be 10.
If UDOT re-striped each lane to 11 feet, it could add a four-foot bike lane on each side of the road, with a 6-inch buffer.
Certainly not ideal—but cheap, easy and quick. It wouldn't change a single thing about how drivers use the street, while making a vast improvement over current conditions that expect cyclists to simply go somewhere else. But UDOT's plans for State don't include bike lanes ever, so I'll be spending my money at Main Street businesses and—thanks to the recent roadwork—on 300 West
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About The Author
Benjamin Wood
Lifelong Utahn Benjamin Wood has worn the mantle of City Weekly's news editor since 2021. He studied journalism at Utah State University and previously wrote for The Salt Lake Tribune, the Deseret News and Entertainment Weekly
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