(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The new TRAX station near the intersection of 600 South and Main Street in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. Each of the Salt Lake City mayoral candidates supports more transit options over actions like widening Interstate 15 through the city's north end.
Pedestrian deaths are rising across the country. In October alone, eight Utah pedestrians were hit and killed. How would you address pedestrian safety in Salt Lake City?
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Merwin Degracia crossing 255 S. West Temple on Friday, February 3, 2023.
Rocky Anderson
When I first took office as Salt Lake City Mayor, the SLC/Ogden area was ranked 12th worst for pedestrian safety in the nation. I recognized that our wide streets (encouraging speeding and making pedestrians less visible) and long blocks (necessitating many mid-block crosswalks) posed unique challenges regarding pedestrian safety.
We took several innovative, effective measures, including installation of red or orange pedestrian flags to make pedestrians more visible and remind motorists to slow down and stop; countdown-timers at walk/don’t walk signs so pedestrians would know how long they have to get to the other side of the street; pedestrian-actuated overhead traffic lights at several mid-block walkways; signs on streets reminding pedestrians to look both ways; pedestrian actuated blinking lights embedded in the road across mid-block walkways; and increased enforcement and publicity regarding the enforcement, including use of decoys walking across mid-block walkways and motorists being ticketed if they were within a lane of where a pedestrian is located and do not stop. I would revive and expand all of the measures we undertook to significantly reduce the number of pedestrian-vehicle accidents and injuries.
When I first took office as Salt Lake City Mayor, the SLC/Ogden area was ranked 12th worst for pedestrian safety in the nation. I recognized that our wide streets (encouraging speeding and making pedestrians less visible) and long blocks (necessitating many mid-block crosswalks) posed unique challenges regarding pedestrian safety.
We took several innovative, effective measures, including installation of red or orange pedestrian flags to make pedestrians more visible and remind motorists to slow down and stop; countdown-timers at walk/don’t walk signs so pedestrians would know how long they have to get to the other side of the street; pedestrian-actuated overhead traffic lights at several mid-block walkways; signs on streets reminding pedestrians to look both ways; pedestrian actuated blinking lights embedded in the road across mid-block walkways; and increased enforcement and publicity regarding the enforcement, including use of decoys walking across mid-block walkways and motorists being ticketed if they were within a lane of where a pedestrian is located and do not stop. I would revive and expand all of the measures we undertook to significantly reduce the number of pedestrian-vehicle accidents and injuries.
Some cities are now banning right turns on red lights as a response to pedestrian fatalities — would you support banning right turns at red lights?
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) A hazy sunset over 400 South in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021.
Rocky Anderson
If there were evidence that right turns on red lights are responsible for vehicle/pedestrian accidents, I would support banning them. The move toward allowing right turns on red lights (RTOR) was initially a fuel-saving measure. The air quality and climate impacts of unnecessarily idling at red lights should still be kept in mind in determining whether to change the laws regarding RTOR, but pedestrian safety should be the predominant consideration. Instead of an across-the-board prohibition, we should consider prohibiting RTOR — with conspicuous signs or signals — in areas where pedestrian volumes are high or during the busiest times of day.
If there were evidence that right turns on red lights are responsible for vehicle/pedestrian accidents, I would support banning them. The move toward allowing right turns on red lights (RTOR) was initially a fuel-saving measure. The air quality and climate impacts of unnecessarily idling at red lights should still be kept in mind in determining whether to change the laws regarding RTOR, but pedestrian safety should be the predominant consideration. Instead of an across-the-board prohibition, we should consider prohibiting RTOR — with conspicuous signs or signals — in areas where pedestrian volumes are high or during the busiest times of day.
The Utah Department of Transportation has proposed two controversial projects: the 1-15 expansion and the gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon. What is your stance on these two projects and how would you approach them?
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Signs on the roadways to Little Cottonwood Canyon oppose the UDOT gondola project, Friday, July 14, 2023.
Rocky Anderson
I am firmly opposed to both projects. I am on record as saying that, if there is a good faith legal basis for stopping the expansion through a lawsuit, I would favor doing it if there is no other option for stopping the expansion.
The expansion of highways is a temporary fix that, in the long-run, makes everything worse: more sprawl development, destruction of homes and other property, more traffic, more time driving and less time engaging in other activities, worsening physical condition for motorists, more pollution and more calls for even more expansions or new highways. That cycle can be stopped with more affordable housing near where people work, efficient mass transit, an end to sprawl development and an end to expanding and building new highways.
The gondola idea is an obscenity, both in terms of the environmental impacts and the proposed massive public funding to benefit a couple ski resorts and property developers. There is nothing “conservative” about spending billions of dollars of public money to deteriorate the quality of one of our precious canyons, solely to benefit the resort owners and a few developers. As with our opposition to the expansion of I-15, we should all join together in a non-partisan fashion to effectively oppose this outrageous proposal, including a boycott or other effective strategies if that’s what it comes to.
I am firmly opposed to both projects. I am on record as saying that, if there is a good faith legal basis for stopping the expansion through a lawsuit, I would favor doing it if there is no other option for stopping the expansion.
The expansion of highways is a temporary fix that, in the long-run, makes everything worse: more sprawl development, destruction of homes and other property, more traffic, more time driving and less time engaging in other activities, worsening physical condition for motorists, more pollution and more calls for even more expansions or new highways. That cycle can be stopped with more affordable housing near where people work, efficient mass transit, an end to sprawl development and an end to expanding and building new highways.
The gondola idea is an obscenity, both in terms of the environmental impacts and the proposed massive public funding to benefit a couple ski resorts and property developers. There is nothing “conservative” about spending billions of dollars of public money to deteriorate the quality of one of our precious canyons, solely to benefit the resort owners and a few developers. As with our opposition to the expansion of I-15, we should all join together in a non-partisan fashion to effectively oppose this outrageous proposal, including a boycott or other effective strategies if that’s what it comes to.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City's Green Loop on Saturday, June 3, 2023.
What kinds of transportation projects do you think the state, county and city should be investing in?
Rocky Anderson
The transportation projects governmental entities should be investing in are the maintenance of our current infrastructure, including SLC roads that have been allowed to deteriorate significantly during the past four years; a convenient re-charging infrastructure for EVs; efficient, convenient mass transit, including rail systems and buses; and vastly improved bicycle access.
The transportation projects governmental entities should be investing in are the maintenance of our current infrastructure, including SLC roads that have been allowed to deteriorate significantly during the past four years; a convenient re-charging infrastructure for EVs; efficient, convenient mass transit, including rail systems and buses; and vastly improved bicycle access.
Air quality is a persistent problem in Salt Lake City — how would your approach to transportation policy address air quality stemming from on-road sources?
Rocky Anderson
Rocky Anderson
When I was mayor, we set and far exceeded major climate protection goals, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from city operations by 31% in three years.
I began a program to allow low- or no-emission vehicles to park free at city parking meters. I would expand those incentives in every way possible and provide more charging stations — powered by renewable energy sources — with exclusive parking for EVs. We should implement more stringent regulations that apply to polluting vehicles and step-up enforcement against them.
Expanding mass transit opportunities will be a major source of air quality improvement, but all energy for such transit should be from renewable energy sources (e.g., solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric).
Because public health and quality of life is at stake for everyone in the Salt Lake City area, I would consider all legal remedies to achieve environmental justice, including possible legal actions to enjoin harmful industrial practices.
We should be resolute and provide public education about how transportation policies impact the health and safety of our residents. We should also incentivize no-emission vehicle use in every way possible and work with the Legislature to reverse present disincentives for electric vehicle (EV) use.
I began a program to allow low- or no-emission vehicles to park free at city parking meters. I would expand those incentives in every way possible and provide more charging stations — powered by renewable energy sources — with exclusive parking for EVs. We should implement more stringent regulations that apply to polluting vehicles and step-up enforcement against them.
Expanding mass transit opportunities will be a major source of air quality improvement, but all energy for such transit should be from renewable energy sources (e.g., solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric).
Because public health and quality of life is at stake for everyone in the Salt Lake City area, I would consider all legal remedies to achieve environmental justice, including possible legal actions to enjoin harmful industrial practices.
We should be resolute and provide public education about how transportation policies impact the health and safety of our residents. We should also incentivize no-emission vehicle use in every way possible and work with the Legislature to reverse present disincentives for electric vehicle (EV) use.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) A plane flies into the Salt Lake International airport as inversion conditions settle into the valley diminishing the air quality on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2023/11/15/what-would-slc-mayoral-candidates/
