SR-7 Active Transportation Plan

This document is intended to be a guideline to plan for and develop active transportation facilities along the 26.1-mile SR-7 corridor from I-15 to SR-9. This guideline will promote the creation of a safe and enjoyable network of walking and bicycling facilities. It will reflect the community’s need to improve health and the quality of life by allowing the use of the network to conduct shopping, business, and recreation and to assure that origins and destinations are connected. Of special emphasis is to allow the network to interconnect with local and regional facilities between city boundaries. 

• Kim Manwill, UDOT Project Manager
• Jeff Sanders, UDOT Planning
• Scott Messel, Washington County
• Leslie Fonger, Washington County
• Mike Shaw, Washington City
• Andy Stevens, Washington City
• Barry Blake, Washington City
• Arthur LeBaron, Hurricane City
• Dannielle Larkin, City of St. George
• Monty Thurber, City of St. George
• Shane McAfee, City of St. George
• Millie Cockerill, City of St. George
• Mark Goble, City of St.George
• Craig Shanklin, SUBA
• Ryan Gurr, SUBA
• Kye Nordfelt, Southwest Health
• Emily Andrus, Horrocks Engineers
• Aron Baker, Horrocks Engineers
• Lee Cabell, Horrocks Engineers

"I am a life-time resident of Hurricane and have been employed as the City Engineer for 13 years. I’ve been a daily bicycle commuter since I was 8 years old and advocate for active transportation infrastructure. I am excited about the future of active transportation in Hurricane and know that a multi-use paved path along SR-7 will be a key element to provide an active transportation link between Hurricane, Washington and St. George." -- Arthur LeBaron

"Active transportation along SR-7 is an important part of UDOT's vision to improve the quality of life in a community through better transportation. I envision an active transportation corridor that is suited to meet both local and regional needs. This particular project is timely because it will position the community to pursue funding to build active transportation projects." -- Jeff Sanders

"As Washington County grows, it is vital that we place utmost importance on preservation of those things that make it an amazing place to live and to recreate. As a cyclist, runner, and hiker, I have enjoyed the beauty of our surroundings and seen the importance of maintaining accessibility to that beauty. As a board member and past president of the Southern Utah Bicycle Alliance, a founding member of the St. George Bicycle Collective, a past St. George City Planning Commissioner, and a current St. George City Councilperson, I see up close the need to prioritize Active Transportation options throughout the county. The SR-7 trail connector is a vital link in a system that will serve the county’s residents and visitors alike for generations to come. I’m honored to be part of the effort to keep our community accessible and safe for all forms of transportation and recreation." -- Dannielle Larkin

"The Southern Parkway (SR-7) should be a transportation corridor for ALL users. Ideally, all residents can have a choice from day-to-day on whether they drive, walk or ride their bicycle. The addition of a multi-use paved trail will add an important element to this corridor. In addition to providing recreational opportunities, it will also help alleviate traffic congestion and improve air quality and personal health as residents have an opportunity to use active transportation and not always the family car." -- Craig Shanklin

"I have been in the cycling industry over 20 years in various roles and has been active in advocacy in Southern Utah since moving to St George in the year 2000.  I am a founding member of SUBA and have seen the group affect policy and infrastructure to benefit both local and visiting cyclists.  As a lifetime cyclist, my passion lead my career path from a bicycle mechanic in 1998 to the owner of Red Rock Bicycle today." -- Ryan Gurr

"I am the Destination Development Manager for the Greater Zion Convention and Tourism Office of Washington County. I have a broad range of experience with outdoor recreation and previously worked for the U.S. Forest Service. My current job is to promote destination features that benefit visitors and residents. The local trail system is of great benefit to residents and draws many visitors. Trails are also a big part of why I love living here. I am excited for and in support of this project because it provides an important trail experience, links existing trail systems, will be a crucial link in additional trail expansions and making active transportation a viable and enjoyable option for travel throughout Washington County." -- Leslie Fonger

As the Director of Health Promotion at the Southwest Utah Public Health Department, I am excited to see the commitment UDOT, local cities, and developers have in making our communities more bikable and walkable. I am a daily bike commuter to work and have noticed the challenges of getting residents in the southern part of our area connected to places to work and shop. This active transportation plan will help prioritize connecting people.  Over time, these connections will get people more active and improve the physical and mental health of our community.  - Kye Nordfelt

Multiple groups of stakeholders met to discuss the origins, purposes, and potential impacts of this project. The following link is a summary of each of those meetings:

 Summary of Stakeholder Meetings 

The project area goes through St. George City, Washington City, Hurricane City and a portion of Washington County. Each agency has its own Active Transportation Plan or Trail Map. The links to each plan are below:

•  St. George City Active Transportation Plan 
•  St. George City Park & Trail Master Plan 
•  Washington City Active Transportation Plan 
•  Hurricane City Master Planned Trails Map 

These city plans have been consolidated into a single map with symbols to designate each type of trail. You will notice the overlap of similar planning objectives from each city. These reveal opportunities of how the community will need to work together to accomplish the same goals in active transportation. 

The State of Utah supports the planning activities in communities throughout the State. There has been a collective effort to gather active transportation plans from all corners of Utah and have them available to display in an interactive GIS map. This allows easy access to regional planning activities. A link is available here.  

 Statewide Active Transportation Plans 

The Zion Corridor is a 22-mile shared use path from Zion National Park to Hurricane City. Parts of the pathway exist along SR-9 in Springdale, and a planning study is currently underway to extend the path west to Hurricane. The Zion Regional Collaborative and other local organizations are working to create this plan. The link to the current study is found below:

 The Zion Corridor 

The map, below, contains a combination of area trail maps integrated with possible trail alignments that is the result of some initial planning by some of our stakeholders. This represents our starting point for this Plan. 

 Southern Parkway Trail Concept 

Southern Parkway is already a popular route for road bikes. It is a favorite route for bikers who want mild rolling terrain, mile after mile. It is mostly level, but has challenging grades. The scenery, however, is the hallmark of this workout.

 Southern Parkway Bike Touring Route 

 Southern Parkway Mountain Biking Trails 

A primary goal with active transportation is to plan and create a safe pathway network. This can come about by weighing several factors during design, including providing smooth riding surfaces, manageable grades, room for opposing traffic, recoverable shoulders, and optimizing the proximity to motorized vehicles. Residents and visitors should feel comfortable using the facilities as to encourage the use of the trail system. By providing a safe bike and trail network, the number and severity of crashes involving bikes and pedestrians should be reduced along Southern Parkway.

Portions of SR-7 were open to the public starting in 2011. The State of Utah has maintained a database of crashes on Southern Parkway from opening day to December 31, 2019. During this period, there have been 49 crashes in 9 years, 4 of which have been fatal. Of these accidents, none involved pedestrians and one involved a bicyclist, which was one of the fatalities. This accident occurred on a September evening at sunset where a driver’s view of a cyclist was hindered by the sun. A motorized vehicle in the outside lane struck a biker from behind. It was unknown whether the bike was in the travel lane or if the vehicle crossed the shoulder line into the biker. Adequate shoulder widths and maintenance of the pavement edges can be a valuable strategy to prevent future crashes. A safe alternative is to introduce a separate trail. As volumes on SR-7 increase, and bicyclists and pedestrians in the area increase, bicycle and pedestrian crashes on the highway will likely trend upward. By exercising safe trail design strategies, crashes with motorized vehicles can be avoided.

 SR-7 Crash Analysis 

 Hurricane Interchange Locations 

Understanding the existing use of pedestrians and bicycles on a path or in an area can help to prioritize future active transportation projects. Unfortunately, bicycle and pedestrian traffic is not measured as often as vehicle traffic and it can be difficult to get sufficient data. Data can be collected manually by someone physically counting each pedestrian or bicycle that passes. This can be useful for understanding traffic during specific hours and in specific places, but provides limited knowledge on daily counts. Twenty-four hours counters, such as pneumatic tubes, can count for longer periods, but do not easily count pedestrians. Manual and 24-hour counts also only provide point data showing how many users are passing through a single point.

Data that is becoming more popular and available is data collected by personal electronic devices. This data can be helpful in seeing trends in active transportation as well as routes, speed, distances, etc. The data is collected through GPS on smartphone applications like Strava. Strava then shares the anonymized data with agencies like UDOT. This data has various limitations due to privacy. It also may not represent all the users that are on a particular path, just those that use the app. Even with these limitations, Strava data can provide a general overview of which routes are being used along SR-7. The following figures show heat maps developed by Strava that show the bicycle and pedestrian usage on and around the Southern Parkway.

Evaluating the future utilization of bicycle and pedestrian paths is difficult because there are many factors that affect the decision of a bicyclist or pedestrian to use a certain path or roadway. Bicycle travel demand is estimated using assumptions based on how many people might use a specific corridor if conditions were conducive to bicycling or walking. These assumptions can include levels of connectivity to the network and transit, available bicycle parking, trip lengths, weather, etc. The variability of these factors make estimating future utilization of a project difficult.

Source: AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities, 4th Edition, 2012

Land Use is an important consideration for projects that extend across multiple jurisdictions. The SR-7 Active Transportation Plan covers areas in St. George, Washington City, Washington County, and Hurricane City. The links below show each jurisdictions Land Use Plans:

•  St. George 
•  Washington City 
•  Washington County 
•  Hurricane 

The goal of this document is to provide a plan for a shared-use path along SR-7, or Southern Parkway. This path should be an arterial path that connects area neighborhoods, communities, and cities. The path should be the major connection for bikes and pedestrians through every community that it passes. The guidance given in the Trail Design section of this document provides details on the recommended standards that should be used to construct this path. This will ensure consistency with path planning for SR-7.

It should be noted that even though early design standards for Southern Parkway recommended a 10-foot path, it is the opinion of this Committee that a recommended width for the path should be 12-feet. As the path becomes more popular, as modes of active transportation evolve, and to allow more flexibility in design, this additional width helps to provide for these needs. Therefore, the recommended trail cross-sections, below, demonstrate a 12-foot pathway width.

The following standards are from the Southern Parkway Development Standards Manual that was written for UDOT by Horrocks Engineers in 2006 in preparation for building the Southern Parkway. It was agreed that a 10’ multi-use trail would be built along the Southern Parkway or through adjacent developments.

6.1 Trail Commitments

A bike/pedestrian trail has been planned to run parallel along the Southern Parkway alignment. This would be a 10 foot paved trail.

6.2 Trail Planning

Along with the trail that will run along the Southern Parkway there are also trails that are being planned in commercial or residential developments that will be going in next to the Southern Parkway. If trails that are being planned through development areas can make logical connections in and out of the development and tie into the Southern Parkway trail it would not be necessary for the trail to run parallel to the Southern Parkway.

6.3 Bicyclists

Bicyclists will be able to travel along the corridor by using the trail system and will share the roadway with vehicles in accordance with the law.

Source:  Southern Parkway Development Standards 

AASHTO (the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) has recognized the importance that bicycle travel has played in the Nation’s transportation system. They have responded by providing a guide that offers information to how to accommodate bicycle travel and operations in most riding environments. The Guide suggests minimum dimensions but local designs need to be sensitive to local context and incorporate the needs of not only bicycles, but pedestrians and motorists, as well. Below are excerpts from this design guide.

• The minimum paved width for a two-directional shared use path is 10 ft. 8 ft trails are acceptable where low bicycle and pedestrian traffic is expected, many resting/passing opportunities are provided, and regular maintenance vehicles are not necessary.
• The minimum width for lateral clearance is 2 ft. A minimum of 1 ft of lateral clearance is acceptable where fences and railings are introduced with appropriate end treatments and flaring. The maximum cross slope should be 1H:6V.  
• The desirable vertical clearance on a shared use path is 10 ft. The recommended minimum vertical clearance that can be used in constrained areas is 8 ft. In some situations, vertical clearance greater than 10 ft may be needed to allow access to maintenance and emergency vehicles.
• The maximum grade of a shared use path adjacent to a roadway should be 5 percent, but the grade should generally match the grade of the adjacent roadway. Grades steeper than 5 percent are undesirable because the ascents are difficult for many path users, and the descents cause some users to exceed the speeds at which they are competent or comfortable.

Source: AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities, 4th Edition, 2012

 Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities 

Depending on the existing age and the level of effort major or capital maintenance can require an average budget of between $2,000 and $7,000 per mile per year. Some years may require more expensive maintenance with others requiring little to none. 

Projects 1-5 and part of 6 are in Design 2023 and planned construction for 2024

•  Project 1 Estimate - In Design - PIN 20510 

•  Project 2 Estimate - In Design - PIN 20510 
•  Project 3 Estimate - In Design - PIN 20510 

•  Project 4 Estimate - In Design - PIN 20510 
•  Project 5 Estimate - In Design - PIN 20510 

•  Project 6 Estimate 
•  Project 7 Estimate 
•  Project 8 Estimate 

•  Project 9 Estimate 
•  Project 10 Estimate 
•  Project 11 Estimate 

•  Project 12 Estimate 
•  Project 13 Estimate 
•  Project 14 Estimate 
•  Project 15 Estimate 
•  Project 16 Estimate 

•  Project 17 Estimate 
•  Project 18 Estimate 
•  Project 19 Estimate 
•  Project 20 Estimate - In Design - PIN 20510 
•  Project 21 Estimate 

The Utah Transportation Commission, in consultation with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) and the state’s Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), developed this written prioritization process to guide the decision-making process for programming Transportation Investment Fund (TIF) and Transit Transportation Investment Fund (TTIF) monies for transportation capacity projects. 

The SR-7 Active Transportation Plan meets the requirements for funding under the TIF Active Transportation. The requirements for this funding are listed below:

• A paved pedestrian or paved, non-motorized transportation project
• Part of an active transportation plan approved by UDOT 
• The project mitigates traffic congestion on the state highway system
• The local government or district will be responsible for the maintenance of the facility
• 40% non-State match based on the total capital costs of the project (can be in-kind)

The figure below shows the 4 outcome areas and 12 criteria with the weighting for Active Transportation TIF projects. Measures used to score the criteria include, but are not limited to:

• Non-motorized safety
• Physically Inactive Population
• Air Quality
• Economic Connectivity
• Reliability Improvement
• Annual Ride Count
• Level of Traffic Stress (LTS)
• Alternative Commute
• Future Population Growth
• Low Income Household Accessibility
• Land Use Plan Consistency
• Multimodal Connectivity

It is important to recognize that although a project might meet all of the UDOT prioritization criteria, it may not necessarily be a feasible project. For example, if a two million dollar project meets all the UDOT criteria, it still may not be feasible to implement given the high cost. Some criteria that might be useful to assess feasibility are cost, ownership barriers, sensitive areas, etc. 

 Project Priority Process 

In this SR-7 Study, the prioritization process helps to separate the relative importance of each identified project. The UDOT values were adapted to fit the objectives that are to be achieved with this highway. Some UDOT values, such as Environment and Transport Costs, all would have the same scoring for a paved path next to SR-7, so the team concentrated on criteria that would differentiate one project to another. Each project is judged against each other using the following values:

Active transportation projects have many opportunities for funding, however, many of them are generally unknown. A full list of funding programs and the details of how to qualify for them is included in the link below. This list provides information on 19 available funding sources and gives insight into which sources might be useful to fund active transportation projects on SR-7.

 Funding Opportunities and Requirements