Bike Utah Valley

I am a resident of Orem city.  I grew up here, my family is here, and I really like it here, except for one thing.  There is way to much traffic and congestion here in Orem now, and it is taking it’s toll on the population.  Road rage is increasingly in the news, congestion causes stress which can lead to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and, I’m learning through my own family experience, a whole lot of other physical and mental problems that you may not think of.  The pollution, both of the air and of our ears, that cars produce can contribute or exacerbate many of the same problems.  So, in response to this and in response to the fact that I’d really rather my children inherit a different world than this, I’m sharing with the world my dream of what  transportation in Orem could be, my Utopian vision of Orem City’s future in the transportation arena if you will.  First, people would rule, not cars.  Speed limits would be drastically reduced.  Basically, on residential streets, five miles per hour.  In Germany, these streets are called Speilstrasse, or play streets.  People own the streets, not the cars.  Secondly, bikes and pedestrians would rule.  Dedicated space on all collector and arterial streets for people, with very wide sidewalks and very wide separated bike lanes.  Third, mass transit would be affordable, convenient, and would take you where you want to go.  I’d like to see the BRT that is planned for University Parkway turned into a Light Rail or LRT system such as TRAX in Salt Lake County.  I’d like to see the same type of system on 800 North that looped down to University Avenue and hooked up with the line where the BRT is supposed to go, and went alongside the Frontrunner tracks to the Orem intermodal center.  The other terminus would be at the Frontrunner intermodal station in Provo.  Another LRT line would run up State Street or Highway 89 starting at the Provo intermodal center all the way to the downtown Salt Lake City intermodal center.  Streetcars would run on 400 North, South, East, and West, and up Center Street.  Maybe on the 800 streets as well.  This would enable you to walk no more than one half mile in this part of Orem to get to a transit stop.  We shouldn’t neglect the far north or south parts of Orem, but I haven’t thought through those area’s yet.  The goal would again be to not have to walk more than one half mile to get to a transit stop.  By doing this kind of transit system in Orem, Provo, and every other community, there would be no where you couldn’t go by bike and by transit.  What an amazing concept, and admittedly a dream, but one that is possible.  If I saw even a fraction of this in my lifetime, I’d be surprised.  That is my Utopian dream.  I hope that someday it can come true.  Bikes and trains.  What more could a boy want?