Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Outlaws again

Ryan and I were bicycle outlaws again on Saturday.   



We rode past the ‘ROAD CLOSED’ signs at Apollo Road.  Salt Lake cyclists will know Apollo Road as the east end of the I-80 Frontage Road that leads to Saltair, Utah’s once-famous counterpart to Coney Island.   There is a construction project there that has required the closure of that road—and of one of Salt Lake’s favorite bike routes—since last fall.   



A sign at the construction site originally stated the road would be reopened at the end of last November.  Then a new sign proclaimed a spring of 2007 opening date.  That sign has been replaced with a new sign that describes the project but gives no opening date. 



On Saturday when Ryan and I arrived at the road closure we stopped and considered our options.  Then we saw a rider coming toward us from the construction site.  We looked down and saw hundreds of dusty bike tracks on the newly paved surface.  We wouldn't be the first cyclists to ride through the road closure.



We went for it.  There is new pavement all the way to the new building.  Then if you cut through the parking lot and ride across 100 yards of gravel road you can be on the old bumpy concrete road to Saltair that we know and love (to hate).  The upshot is you can ride the road if you don’t mind a little gravel and you go on a weekend when there isn’t a lot of construction activity. 



There is a phone number at the bottom of the new sign at the road closure.  It’s connects you to the Salt Lake City Transportation Department.  I called it this morning and spoke to a man named Rick.   He knew exactly what I was talking about, and commiserated with me, saying that he likes to ride out there too. 



Rick told me that the permit his department issued for the road closure was set to expire March 31, but was extended because the shallow water table kept causing trenches to cave in.  He said they had to dig really wide trenches to keep the workers safe, but that wide trenches were unsafe to cyclists, hence the road closure.  Rick said the permit has been extended through June 30. 



Ryan and I didn’t see any trenches on Saturday, so Rick has old information.  Sure, there is still a safety concern for cyclists mingling with construction traffic but that could be easily remedied by separating the bikes from the trucks with a few traffic cones or some flashing barricades. 



So there’s no real reason to keep the road closed.   Let’s all call Rick in the transportation department and tell him that.  The number is 535-6630. 



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