Property owners angry about Ogden Canyon bike path legislation
“A bill that would allow the Utah Department of Transportation to use eminent domain to build a pedestrian and bicycle pathway through Ogden Canyon has residents there steaming mad.
Senate Bill 249, sponsored by Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, would allow UDOT to take property near state highways by eminent domain in order to build and maintain pathways specifically designed for pedestrians and other non-motorized methods of transportation.
State Route 39 as it runs through Ogden Canyon and similar canyon roads in Salt Lake City and Provo were the genesis of the bill.
Bramble said that currently, the only way to travel through the narrow canyons safely is by using a motorized vehicle. And as things like air quality and traffic congestion continue to be problematic issues for the state, alternatives to the car are becoming more and more important. “
Shaw, Mitch. Standard Examiner 12 March 2014.