Just got back from spending the day in Salt Lake with my younger son Ben. I parked the vehicle at his home, in the 1500 block of Redwood Road, and we cycled into town, as far as 9th and 9th and back again.
And never had a problem. Salt Lake City has been pretty aggressive in building cycling lanes and otherwise making bicycles welcome. It has lanes in city streets where, because there is not room for a separate cycling lane, the entire lane of traffic is so designated. Cars and bicycles are equal.
More important, Ben said, the drivers in Salt Lake City have show that they have advanced well along the learning curve, accepting cyclists as part of the normal traffic flow, respecting their right to the road and so on.
"It's been years since I was yelled at or had water balloons thrown at me," Ben said.
The reason I bring this up is that Ogden's mayor recently came back from a trip to Taiwan with the wish to make Ogden a national cycling center. I know he's hoping to bring in more cycling manufacturers and suppliers like Quality Bicycle Products out in BDO, but he must know that the way to attract more of those companies is to make his city the sort of place the people who own them will feel comfortable on two wheels.
Not must mountain biking, either.
As this article on the Business Insider web site (click) makes clear, Americans in general have got to quit thinking of bicycles strictly as sports toys. They are a way to get around, so while Ogden's system of trails for mountain bikers is really cool, Ogden's and Weber County's token attention to making the roads welcoming for cyclists who want to commute, go to church, go shopping, go to the library, is beyond pathetic.
Lanes? Routes? The River trail is a good way to get to Riverdale (a friend of mine said she can get from her home at the mouth of Ogden Canyon to Riverdale quicker on her bicycle using the trail than in a car) and the rail-trail from Ogden to Salt Lake City is nice, but what else is there?
Ogden should have pressured UDOT to put bike lanes on 12th Street when it rebuilt it. UDOT will tell you that it left nice wide shoulders for bikes, but bike lanes send the message that bicycles belong there.
And, frankly, want to bet that the first time someone wants to put more lanes on 12th Street those shoulders will disappear? If bicycle lanes are there, and mandated, maybe they'll be protected.
The city talks a lot -- it puts up signs marking bicycle routes, but signs are just that, signs. And the police need to get involved to rein in the anarchy out there of people riding on the wrong side of the road all the time, skipping past lights, weaving dangerously, and so on.
I'm riding my bicycle to work these days -- I need to. Retirees can't afford $3.50 gasoline. I would love it if my city made that easier to do. And, really, it wouldn't be that hard. Just go to Salt Lake, take a look around, and come back and do likewise. It won't put Ogden in the Copenhagen class, but it will be a good start.
Totally agree, Charlie.
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