Road striping to alleviate Rolling Knolls traffic issues

After nearly two years of researching traffic problems in the area between 6675 South and Rolling Knolls Way, Cottonwood Heights city officials have commissioned a striping plan for those roads.

“This is a start,” Councilman Mike Peterson said. “[Residents] are still expecting more [to address traffic issues in that area].”

Public works director Mike Allen said the city has asked for bids for the striping project. “Once the weather permits, we’ll get it taken care of as soon as possible,” Allen said.

The striping will include tick marks preceding stop signs, shared bike lanes, and yellow corner lines to bind cars in the appropriate lanes and keep them from taking the corners too quickly.

“It will improve driver awareness,” Allen said. “It’s a step in the right direction.”

Road striping is just one of several options the city council has considered to help alleviate the heavy traffic in the Rolling Knolls area.

Many of the possible solutions they’ve considered came from a report made by a residential ad hoc committee created in 2010 in response to the concerns about high volumes of cut-through traffic.

Working closely with former councilwoman Nicole Omer, the committee collected traffic pattern data and submitted several solutions in a comprehensive report.

The committee described the purpose of the proposed solutions as to “reduce the amount of cut-through traffic, increase diver awareness, enhance safety and make their neighborhood more pedestrian friendly.”

The city council plans to continue to address the large amount of traffic cutting through the residential streets.

“[Residents] were very concerned that when Nicole [Omer] went away, this would also go away,” Mayor Kelvyn J. Cullimore Jr. said. Omer resigned from the council when she accepted a job and moved to Colorado last year.

But Peterson confirmed that the issue is serious and resolutions will be implemented.

“You can literally both hear and smell the cars [from inside the houses along Rolling Knolls Way],” Peterson said. “The traffic is very close to those homes.”