Senate Concurrent Resolution 10: Urging Solutions for the Central Wasatch Mountains
February 2019
Senator Cullimore released Senate Concurrent Resolution 10, which urges solutions for the Central Wasatch Mountains. The resolution recognizes the Wasatch Mountains have enormous economic, watershed, natural, and recreational value for the state of Utah, and acknowledges the work of the Central Wasatch Commission to develop solutions that address the significant transportation and land management issues that affect the area.
S.C.R. 10 calls for the President of the United States, Congress, and Utah’s congressional delegation to propose and secure passage of legislation that implements the Central Wasatch Commission’s recommendations. If passed, S.C.R. 10 would affirm the legislature’s support for the Central Wasatch Commission, and our work.
Senator Kirk A. Cullimore began legislative service on January 1, 2019 and represents Senate District 9, which encompasses House Districts 32, 44, 45, 46, and 49. Salt Lake County covers Senate District 9. A concurrent resolution is a legislative measure that is adopted by both the House and the Senate. In general, concurrent resolutions are employed to address issues that affect both legislative bodies.
Thanks for your wonderful efforts. Glad to see the recognition of transportation issues to come to the forefront again. Land trades where far less significant and seemed to be counter-productive fort scheduling important changes to the Canyon Management Plan. What is the feeling? Should all this resort base land become developed with real estate? Or is it okay for the USFS land to stay managed for recreation and open space. Is it really the dominant question who skis on those mined properties?
Transportation issues are the most critical water quality management issues. While UDOT has unfortunately only a mandate to transport cars, UTA stands for transporting people. What is to be done to save those canyon environments? Transport more cars or more people on these steep roads? This is one fundamental flaw of the Canyon Transportation problem we have in the Wasatch where we all that peak traffic is going from the mouth of the canyons to ski resort destinations… typically, a mass transit situation. Resorts should essential be pedestrian zones for efficient management and enjoyment. People are now angry, unfriendly, unhappy to have to deal with such inefficiency of arriving, moving around and departing. This feeling includes the back country skiers dispatch areas. .
Mass transit can be financed only with a look at the longer term. In fact, a transit system must be designed with a 50- to a 100-year life cycle and it is paramount to make a life cycle cost analysis, not annual budgeting. This is simply throwing oney in the gutter. The short term thinking must be limited now! The financial plans of typical highway improvements must be revised and put on the back burner.
It is time for objective water quality research! The gutter must transport all that chemical slag into the watershed. Just look at the brown snow stacked up along the highways. Let’s build a better gutter (i.e. Mount Rose Highway protecting the Lake Tahoe Watershed.) Every widening of road and parking will proportionally increase the runoff with this expensive and unhealthy highway maintenance sludge. – The cure is to stop and look ahead at the water quality issues seriously. There are many examples suggesting what could be done.
Immediately, catch all highway runoff in a storm-drain along the highways. Take out what is put on the highway. All of it! All that ugly material that is trucked onto the highways, probably some 50-100 tons per lane mile of highway! This is altering the vegetative soil mantle that otherwise promises to clean the water. The soil chemistry is changing drastically along the highway with the import of megatons of strange material! What is this impact?
Stop the idea of building snow sheds. Why? Cost, Aesthetics, and depending on an even higher concentration of chemical highway treatment to keep the sheds save. Find out how much more slag will be needed and how many serious accidents occur in snow sheds elsewhere. – Don’t be so self-assured that show sheds are a good solution.
Think about road widening as a last resort. Certainly not for parking vehicles along the highway! It is unwise to make the road any wider, it is particularly unwise to add parking along distances of the State Highways. That is only happening because the U.S. Forest Service is not allowing parking lots, perhaps multi-level lots, while UDOT is nice to allow an unusual precedent of parking on popular, well-traveled roads. This requires immediate attention.
Instead of road widening make a saver road! Consider heavy buses to be retained by guard rails. No matter what, you should install guardrails where required from the point of traffic safety. When avalanches hit new guard rails, where they belong (i.e. U210 7-Turns) that is a lesser problem than seeing a car wreck at the bottom of the embankment wall. No?
The wasted time during the Mountain Accord blabbering is now forcing a fast agenda. What is smart to do in the interim? Streamline automobile traffic build more effective parking areas that require no, or at least much less chemical treatment because that will augment the stream loading.
What can be done to pick up where people stood at the closing of the educational Envisioning Utah process, when the public had been objectively informed until suddenly politics kicked in and all those partially informed Stake Holder constituencies entered the discussion. This has been a disgrace in mountain planning where nature dominates the course of events, not ambitious people. Managing people in the mountains has been done in many parts of the world. It is time to make constructive analyses to sort out the best way to get more people access with a smaller impact.
Travel money would be well spent to come out with a better plan.
Thank you for your comment and thoughts on the transportation issues in the canyons, Beat. The CWC and UDOT are currently undertaking the revised Little Cottonwood Canyon Environmental Impact Statement and the Cottonwood Corridor Transportation Action Plan that have already implemented some traffic-calming solutions like the pilot High-T intersections at the Alta Wildcat base parking area and Solitude Entry 4. The two studies will address the feasibility for avalanche sheds, lane improvements, parking, tolling, pedestrian and bike facilities, transit, and water quality.