Salt Lake area transportation study: volume I current travel inventory

reportA major element of this study was the review of current travel patterns generated by the 394,000 residents of the Salt Lake area as determined from a 1960 comprehensive origin-destination survey which was conducted by the Department of Highways. Supplemental studies covered commercial vehicle movements and traffic generated outside the study area. Motor vehicle ownership is slightly in excess of one auto per dwelling unit and occupants of the 112,223 homes in the study area make an average of close to 9 trips per dwelling unit per day. They make over one million person trips on an average weekday, as determined in the 1960 survey. The major trip purpose categories by auto drivers are working and shopping, together accounting for 39 percent of the total. A substantial number of driver trips, 16 percent, are made for social purposes. Public transit patronage has declined 31 percent in 7 years; the bus system carries 5 percent of all passenger trips in the area. The central business district is the major attraction for travel in the area, accounting for 7 percent of the driver trip ends and 8 percent of the total passenger trip ends. About 15 percent of the 54,000 transit passengers have either origin or destination within the C B D . The heaviest corridors of travel are generally focused on the C B D in a north-south and east-west direction. Approximately 95 percent of all urban area trips begin or end within the study area. Through traffic accounts for about 3,000 trips per day. Of the total external traffic, over 86 percent was generated within the counties adjacent to the study area. All mass transportation in the Salt Lake area is by bus. Salt Lake City lines, Inc., provides bus service for much of Salt Lake City, while the Lewis Brothers Stages serves the southwestern portion of the study area and the Lake Shore Motor Coach Lines provides transit service to the communities in the northern portion of Salt Lake County and Davis County. About 34,000 daily revenue passengers were carried by the Salt Lake City Lines in 1960 according to their records. Including non-revenue passengers, riders of Lewis Brothers Stages and Lake Shore Motor Coach Lines, and school bus riders, the daily study area transit passenger total approximates 54,000 as determined in the home interview survey. Currently the quality of traffic operations on area streets and highways may be classed as relatively good. High traffic volumes are carried by some streets (35,000 vehicles daily on State Street and Seventh East). Travel speeds permit movements within the metropolitan area to be made without excessive delay, except at some locations during peak periods of traffic flow. A sound basic roadway system was developed by Salt Lake City's founders and it has been adequate to accommodate traffic growth. However, future years will see greatly increased traffic demands; today's roadways must be improved and additional routes provided if desirable freedom of movement is to be maintained. The information gained from the review and analyses of the origin-destination study will be utilized in the development of future travel pattern projections and assist in the determination of a future transportation plan which will be presented in Volume II of this study. Detailed tabulations of the origin-destination survey, land-use statistics, and projected travel tabulations will be included in Volume III of the Salt Lake Area Transportation Study