Utah
Stop driving on Great Salt Lake’s exposed lakebed, Utah agency says
Tire tracks from a car illegally driving on uncovered Nice Salt Lake lakebed. Utah land managers say they’re seeing an increase in unlawful driving on the lakebed. (Utah Division of Forestry, Hearth and State Lands)
Estimated learn time: 3-4 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — The shrinking Nice Salt Lake has generated newly uncovered lakebed because it continues to drop right down to record-low ranges.
It has fallen to an elevation of 4,189.4 toes, as of Aug. 25, in accordance with the Utah Division of Water Assets. That is practically a foot beneath the earlier file low set final yr. Each foot it falls has the potential to reveal just a few sq. miles of beforehand lined lakebed, Utah Division of Forestry, Hearth and State Lands consultants defined earlier this yr.
But the Nice Salt Lake continues to be a preferred draw regardless of its decline, and state land managers say it is leading to an uptick in unlawful driving on the uncovered lakebed, which is inflicting “severe issues.”
“Driving on the lakebed would not simply disturb the fragile crust, nevertheless it additionally has severe implications for wildlife, air high quality and the delicate (Nice Salt Lake) ecosystem,” stated Ben Stireman, the sovereign lands program administrator for the Utah Division of Forestry, Hearth and State Lands, in an announcement Thursday.
It’s unlawful to drive on uncovered lakebed or navigable rivers in Utah with out written permission. Each are thought-about lands owned by the state, which implies Utah manages legal guidelines for land areas.
The Utah Legislature tweaked the regulation earlier this yr, clarifying that primarily each car with a motor is banned by uncovered lakebed or navigable rivers, together with off-highway autos. Violation of the regulation is a category B misdemeanor and might go away somebody chargeable for civil damages, in accordance with division officers.
This additionally applies to different widespread recreation areas like:
- Utah Lake
- Jordan River
- Moab Trade Lands
- The Utah portion of Bear Lake
- Parts of the Bear, Colorado and Inexperienced rivers
However the regulation tweak was particularly made this yr with the Nice Salt Lake in thoughts. The mud from the Nice Salt Lake accommodates poisonous heavy metals that may be blown into communities close to the lake, inflicting extreme air high quality issues. Driving on the uncovered lakebed can disturb the lakebed’s pure salt pan that will in any other case entice the poisonous mud within the floor.
“This was designed to be sure that the more and more uncovered lakebed would not get damaged up,” stated Rep. Doug Owens, D-Millcreek, the invoice’s sponsor, in an interview again in April. “If you happen to break that crust, then the underlying mud is extra simply airborne. … It is a severe air high quality subject, probably.”
State land managers add there’s additionally a threat for autos to be caught in comfortable mud, leading to a “tough” car restoration that does ever extra lakebed injury. That is why they’re reminding guests that they can not drive on the uncovered lakebed.
The state regulation would not apply to land throughout the boundaries of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Tooele County, which is operated by the Bureau of Land Administration. The bureau usually permits motor recreation with some seasonal closures, particularly when the salt is moist within the spring.
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Utah
Utah family creates 'Giving Gallery' to spread joy of art
COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, Utah — You might have heard of little libraries in neighborhoods, but have you heard of Giving Galleries?
A family in Cottonwood Heights is using their love for art to bring joy to those around them.
On the corner of Promenade and Camino is Abigail Bradshaw.
“I’m standing next to an art gallery, my art gallery. That’s my house,” she proudly said.
Abigail is showing her tiny art gallery filled with pieces made by her family and others who want to contribute. This home used to be her great-grandmother’s.
“She was an artist, and so, I wanted to continue that legacy,” said Katie Bradshaw, Abigail’s mom. They found a box, painted it, propped it up, and filled it with tiny art. Anyone can just look at the art, pick up something they like, or put their own piece inside.
Miles Jacobsen is a friend who saw what the Bradshaws were doing and added his artwork to the box.
For people who want to make their own masterpieces, there is also a box of free art supplies in the gallery box. You can come by to pick up paint, paintbrushes, and tiny canvasses to create your own art, which you can drop off at the “giving gallery” to bring joy to someone else.
“I feel really glad that people come and get some art and put it in there,” said Abigail.
Filling the box is something Katie does with her kids.
“I hope that they can carry this with them, that they continue sharing art, no matter where they are,” she said.
Spreading joy to everyone who walks by, and letting the cycle continue.
“I want them to feel happy and glad that they got some, so they could return some back here,” added Abigail.
Utah
Amid traffic, Utah walked to Leafs’ arena pregame
TORONTO — The Utah Hockey Club said players were forced to walk to their game against the Maple Leafs after their bus got stuck in Toronto traffic Sunday night.
The team posted a video on social media of team members walking to Scotiabank Arena, with player Maveric Lamoureux saying the bus was “not moving at all.”
Several city streets had been closed during the day for an annual Santa Claus parade.
The Maple Leafs earned their fourth consecutive win by defeating Utah 3-2.
The viral incident prompted Ontario Premier Doug Ford to call the congestion “embarrassing” and “unacceptable,” highlighting his government’s plan to address the city’s gridlock through bike lane legislation.
It wasn’t the first time a Toronto visitor had to ditch their vehicle to make it to an event on time.
In June, former One Direction band member Niall Horan had to walk through traffic to get to his concert at Scotiabank Arena.
Utah
Utah Highway Patrol responds to your suggestions on making Utah roads safer
SALT LAKE CITY — FOX 13 News is Driven to Change and that includes bringing you reports on important topics like road rage, construction, and wrong-way drivers. During our coverage, we continually ask for any questions or concerns you may have along Utah’s roadways.
The feedback has gotten an enormous response, so FOX 13 sat down with Lieutenant Cameron Roden on Good Day Utah to help address input we have been getting, from the perspective of Utah Highway Patrol.
Speeding in Utah, there’s so much of it, and then you can sometimes say that that leads to tailgating, which may lead to road rage incidents. What are you seeing out there in terms of speed and what can we do to lessen the effects of that?
Lt. Cameron Roden: Speed is our number one thing that we see. That’s our number one traffic stop that we make, and we know that it leads to the majority of crashes in the state of Utah. So we definitely put an emphasis on speed and it does lead to other things. Not just crashes. It leads to road rage and other things .So, as far as what changes can we make, we need to start with ourselves, and really say, ‘Hey, do I have a problem?’ You know, we just need to start with ourselves and not think that it’s something else’s problem. If we slow our speeds ourselves, and then it’ll start to to catch on and people will do that speed limit. So, but the legislature has definitely taken some steps to help us address, especially the the speeds that are those excessive speeds where we have that one zero five law now that addresses those speeds and increases fines and and hopefully discourages people from those extreme speeds.
Some of our viewers talked about maybe capping some of the speed limits for truck drivers. Is that something that’s even feasible?
You know, that would be something that would have to go through that, that legislative process to see whether we that would be something that would help. But ultimately, if we we start with ourselves, hopefully that will make that change and reduce crashes and fatalities.
There are things being done to try and intervene and stop wrong-way drivers before they happen. But some of our viewers propose things like spikes. What are your thoughts on implementing something like that?
We’ve had over the last several years, a rash of wrong-way drivers, and it’ll come in onesie twos, and then we’ll go for a period of time without that. And so, but this spike over the last couple of years has caused us to to create a task force to look at wrongly driving what things can be done. And so getting all these stakeholders together between UDOT and Highway Safety, looking at what technologies and things that could be implemented, and and things like, wrong way detection cameras. Those are some things that are being actually used in the state of Utah right now to help us spot those and and advance signage, getting people to realize they’re going the wrong way and turn around. The the spike strips have actually been talked about in our task force a little bit. And if something like that would even be, it is that technology available right now. And as what we could actually implement in the state of Utah, there’s nothing that really fits the bill right now because of our environment. We have our snow plows. We have snow and things like that. Something like that really wouldn’t be practical right now.
Probably the most talked about topic that we’ve received was distracted driving, texting while driving. You went out, I saw on the UHP social media page, that you guys just driving and you look to your right and left and you can find someone texting. What kind of enforcement do we have against distracted driving specifically on your phone?
This is something that we like you said, we see it every day. We go out to crashes,and and we may suspect that a driver may be distracted. And so, it’s something that’s definitely under-reported. It’s it’s a bigger problem than than the numbers really show.And so not only do we address it during our normal patrols.Our officers are seeing it, and addressing it while they’re out there.But we’ll also do targeted patrols where the highway safety office actually gives out additional funds for that targeted enforcement, where we’ll get an unmarked vehicle. We go out driving down the roads where we try to spot these vehicles and and get them stopped because those are those are a big danger on our roadways where our attention and our focus needs to be on driving.
If you have ideas or suggestions for how to make Utah’s roadways safer click here to be taken to our Driven to Change form. There you can share your ideas or suggestions.
DRIVEN TO CHANGE
Share your ideas on how to make Utah’s roads safer
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