Plea to widen roads nets a wide response

Steve Hill, founder and president of the 2-year-old Wasatch Back running relay, wrote, "My biggest worry regarding our relay is busy roads with little or no shoulders, most notably the Trappers Loop Highway (near Snowbasin Ski Resort). That road should have been designed with bike lanes but wasn't. Seems to me it would make a lot of sense to redraw the lanes so that there would be two lanes (not three) with wide shoulders."

The most educational letter came from Jason Bultman, a bicycle safety activist, who wrote, "What you wrote about is the idea of building complete streets. Complete streets policies are in place in 12 states at the state level, and three of those (Florida, Oregon and Rhode Island) have passed legislation. Utah should also become a leader in accommodating alternative transportation. An effective policy should reverse the norm from having to justify accommodating bicyclists and pedestrians to justify NOT accommodating bicyclists and pedestrians."

Well said, Jason, and everyone else.

It's always nice to discover you're not the only person in the club.

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.