Active Transportation

Traditional Transportation Choices

Biking and walking typically fall under the term active transportation, but any form of travel powered by the human body such as using a wheelchair, skateboarding, scootering, or roller-blading is active transportation as well.

There are many community and individual benefits to active transportation, including increased wellness and social connectedness, travel cost savings, mobility independence, reduced environmental impact, and improved air quality. Additionally, every time you opt to walk or bike rather than travel in your car, there is one less car on the road – making it easier for those who have to drive to get around. See the Utah Active Transportation Benefits Study for more information on benefits and best practices.

Supporting active transportation is consistent with all of the Wasatch Front Regional Council’s Wasatch Choice Vision goals. WFRC participates in many active transportation planning efforts, understanding that travel choices are critical to maintaining and building an efficient and integrated transportation system for the region. The Transportation and Land Use Connection program provides funding to local governments to develop active transportation plans and the Active Transportation Committee involves regional stakeholders to provide guidance on bicycle and pedestrian planning issues. All active transportation planning efforts undertaken involve partners such as the Utah Department of Transportation, Utah Transit Authority, WFRC member counties and cities, state and local health departments, and state and local advocacy groups.

Explore the Wasatch Front's Bikeways

The new bikeways.utah.gov interactive map highlights the current Wasatch Front bicycling network to help residents and visitors take advantage of these bike-friendly facilities for both transportation and recreation. On the map, users can view paved trails, different types of bike lanes, and other on-street bike designations, and an estimated level of comfort for different experience levels.

Importantly, this tool also allows users to provide feedback that will help keep the map current. Are you proud of a new or upgraded bikeway that just opened in your community? Or do you see something that is missing on the map? Just click on the map and submit your suggestions for review and inclusion. Your feedback will help provide better information to the public and to the organizations that use current conditions to develop plans and prioritize future additions to the bike network. Please share this resource with others! The more people who use the map, the better it will be.

The bikeways map is hosted by the Utah Geospatial Resource Center (UGRC), the State's GIS coordination office, in partnership with WFRC and Utah's transportation planning agencies.

2023-2050 Regional Transportation Plan

The 2023-2050 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) focuses on planning a bicycle network that is both safe and convenient for users. Where possible, family-friendly facilities that separate bicycles from vehicle traffic are planned in the style of similar projects such as Grant Avenue Promenade in Ogden and the Denver & Rio Grande Western Rail Trail in Weber & Davis Counties that fulfill regular trips and recreational uses. Additionally, the RTP focuses on regional connections to ensure that origins and destinations are conveniently linked together along with improved connections to transportation services, such as bus and rail.

Since the RTP is a long-range plan, envisioned active transportation projects identified in the RTP may evolve over time. During project development, context sensitive solutions will be considered to build out the preferred solution. Further jurisdiction coordination, deployment of interim designs, or phased implementation may be necessary until complete redesign or reconstruction of the roadway and active transportation facility occurs, and/or additional right-of-way can be acquired.

Overall, the 2023-2050 RTP places a growing emphasis on active transportation, considering access, convenience, and safety of bicycle users as well as integrating facilities within roadway and transit projects.

Active Transportation Plan Standards

This set of standards has been compiled to create a more comprehensive network of active transportation facilities in Utah that can be implemented easily and effectively.

Bicycle Friendly Business

The Wasatch Front Regional Council has been recognized by the League of American Bicyclists as a Bicycle Friendly Business, joining more than 1,300 other businesses from across the country who have made a concerted effort to promote cycling with their employees, as well as accommodate bikes in the workplace.

Golden Spoke Rides and Event

The Golden Spoke network offers over 170 miles of safe, connected, paved trails from Ogden to Provo, becoming the longest continuous, multi-use urban trail network this side of the Mississippi, cementing Utah as a national leader in outdoor recreation and active transportation.

Key Resources

State

Bike Utah
Get Healthy Utah
Move Utah
Safe Routes Utah (aka Safe Routes to School)
Utah Department of Health
Utah Department of Transportation Planning

Regional

Active Transportation Committee (WFRC/MAG region)
Bonneville Shoreline Trail
Jordan River Commission
Trails Foundation Northern Utah (formerly Weber Pathways)

Local

Other

The Golden Spoke is a network of over 170 miles of multi-use trails across the Wasatch Front Region, from Ogden to Provo. The Golden Spoke Ride Event is held yearly and features routes of varying mile lengths and directions to provide options to participants of differing ability and age.

2018 Ride Route Videos (While the official routes have changed over the years, the videos are illustrative of past regional courses at varying intensity that you can still ride today)

Topics in Active Transportation
- A Connected Bike Network Offers More Than the Sum of Its Parts (Article): As a means to provide access to disadvantaged groups, building better bicycle facilities can improve equity especially when safety is a top consideration. Click the link to read more about how improved cycling conditions can help underserved communities.
- Culture Clash: Are There Really Two Types of Cyclists? (Video): The common understanding of a cyclist in the US is one of recreation and fitness. Understanding the utility users of bicycles can transform the lens cities are seen through. Watch this video for more on the topic.
- For Vibrant US Cities, Invest in Multi-modal Transportation (Article): Active transportation is one of various modes that contribute to a multi-modal transportation system that can bring benefits to health, safety, and the local economy. Read this article to understand the principles of the 15-minute city and the necessary connection to transit to achieve these larger goals.
- Protected Bike Lanes & More (Video): Paint is not protection! That is why safe street design – in the form of new and innovative protected bike lanes and protected intersections – are becoming the new gold standards to greatly improve safety for bicycle riders of all ages and abilities. There are MANY new designs out there, some better than others. Watch this video to understand their pros and cons? (Video produced by the University of Miami BikeSafe Program)
- The Environmental Benefits of Riding a Bike (Article): Climate concerned communities may consider implementing cycling as a viable way to help reduce fossil fuel use, pollution, and the material and land cost of other infrastructure.
- 12 Benefits of Cycling, Plus Safety Tips (Article): Riding a bicycle can provide various benefits to the health and wellness of an individual. While there are various safety considerations brought by the physical environment, this article lists several compelling arguments to cycle.
How-To
- Bicycle Collective: This nonprofit organization works in communities throughout Utah to provide donated bicycles and parts to disadvantaged communities and provide workshops in educating locals on bike usage and maintenance.
- Bikes on UTA Public Transit (Article)
- E-Scooter vs E-Bike vs E-Skate: Which Should You Buy? (Video)
- How To Ride In A City | Bike Riding Tips For Busy And Urban Streets (Video)
- Rollerblades vs bike vs scooter – Which is better for commuting? (Article)
- 3 Essential Bike Maintenance Tips For Beginners (Video)
- 5 EASY Tips to Start Bike Commuting (Video)

Datasets

Active Transportation GIS Data Resources Interactive Map – This interactive map enables visualization of existing and planned on-street and off-street bicycle infrastructure, potential demand scores, and bike network quality / level of traffic stress. It also provides links to, and information about, the datasets.
Multimodal Network GIS Dataset – In 2018, UDOT led a FHWA grant to create a GIS layer capable of supporting network analysis for bicycle, pedestrian, vehicle, and transit modes. As part of this project, Utah selected five metrics for implementation from the FHWA Guidebook for Measuring Multimodal Network Connectivity: Network Completeness, Network Density, Directness of Suitable Routes, Access to Destinations (travelsheds and inclusion of key amenities), and Network Quality (Level of Traffic Stress documentation).
Current On-street Bicycle Infrastructure – Improved bicycle GIS data, stored as attributes on Utah’s statewide road centerline GIS layer, is available from UGRC. The data schema (attribute names and coded values) is available from this Google Sheet, see the purple Alternate Use section on the FC_RoadCenterlines tab for field properties and the CVDomain_OnStreetBikeExisting and the CVDomain_Ped Path tabs for allowable code values.
Planned Bicycle Infrastructure – The road centerlines GIS layer described above also carries planned regional and local on/near bicycle infrastructure data — for the WFRC region — using the CVDomain_OnStreetBikePlanned coded values.
Count Data – WFRC has access to Strava Metro data, which comes from the Strava app. This data can be helpful in comparing trips between different corridors, although the data does have some limitations. WFRC, MAG, UDOT, and UTA have a current effort evaluating the resources required to run a comprehensive active transportation count program. Recommendations for the program and counter types and locations will be presented by the end of 2024. Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, and a select few other cities in the WFRC region maintain counters. MAG owns and operates many counters in Utah County – more information is available at their webpage. For more information on count data collection contact Hugh Van Wagenen at WFRC.

Tools

Micromobility Toolset (in progress) – WFRC led a joint project (with MAG, UDOT, and UTA) to develop requirements, create an implementation plan, and build an initial analysis toolset to better understand and project bicycle and other micromobility mode travel within our Region. Information about this project can be found in the kickoff workshop summary, toolset needs assessment, and work plan for the second phase (building initial bicycle tools).
Complete Streets Toolbox
Active Transportation Plan Data Standardization – WFRC has created guidelines for standardization of Active Transportation (AT) Plan data. The guidelines document contains instructions for utilizing Utah’s statewide road centerline GIS layer in creating new AT Plan data, information about bicycle and pedestrian facility types, and FAQ.

Bike Share Explainer Article
Bikeshare Solutions for Small Cities & Towns (NLC)
GREENbike (Utah’s nonprofit bike share)
NACTO Bike Share and Shared Micromobility Initiative
NACTO Equitable Bike Share Article
NACTO Shared Micromobility of 2022 Report
Shared Mobility (Salt Lake City Transportation)
The Bikeshare Planning Guide (ITDP)
Why you’re safer on a bike share than a regular bike (Vox Video)

Contact

For additional information, please contact:

Hugh Van Wagenen
Active Transportation Planner

Email

Learn More

Regional Transportation Plan

People with shovels recognize the start of a road project.

Transportation Improvement Program

Street view of Sugarhouse in Salt Lake City

Transportation and Land Use Connection