“Equitable Distribution” and the ONEN Master Plan

May 22, 2016

When MMT implemented the bus changes through ONEN on May 1, 2016, some Nevada residents naturally confused these route changes with the Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Plan that ONEN was actively promoting. This became even worse when word got out that MMT requested that the lane freed by safety-sizing Nevada Avenue be used as a transit/bus lane. The City was also considering reducing the speed limits on Cascade, Weber, and Wahsatch to 30 mph while leaving Nevada at 35. The ONEN board unanimously voted against these suggestions as a violation of the ONEN Master Plan. This raised the question that if adding bus lanes and allowing higher speed limits on Nevada, compared to the other north-south arterial streets, is a violation of the ONEN Master Plan, then could moving buses to Nevada also be a violation?

The following is from the ONEN Master Plan signed as a city ordnance on February 26, 1991.

ONEN_Master_Plan

Although this statement does not specifically refer to buses, it is clear that moving buses from less busy arterial streets to our busiest north-south arterial street is not in the spirit of 2.A4 of our Master Plan. Here are the results of the latest two traffic counts. Note that these count were both taken before the buses were moved to Nevada Avenue.

Traffic Counts in Average Daily Trips (ADT)

Traffic Counts in Average Daily Trips (ADT)
Cascade Avenue Nevada Avenue Weber Street Wahsatch Avenue
2013 Traffic Counts 10,400 (29%) 15,700 (44%) 4,600 (13%) 4,800 (14%)
2016 Traffic Counts 6,615 (20%) 17,564 (54%) 3,417 (10%) 5,181 (16%)

 

 

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