Advocate of the Month: Blair Tomten
Utah is home to many community bicycling advocates, who dedicate time and energy to making riding in their cities and neighborhoods more safe and accessible. Bike Utah is excited to highlight an advocate each month, with the goals of recognizing their work, connecting with more community members, and inspiring new advocates to take action!
Name: Blair Tomten
Job Title: Roadway Design Engineer, Avenue Consultants
Associated Bicycle Advocacy Group: Salt Lake County Bicycle Advisory Committee
Title at associated bicycle advocacy group: Chair
What is/was your favorite bike?
My bike has always been freedom and transportation. It was a big deal when our parents finally thought we were old enough to ride the 1 mile to elementary school. There weren’t sidewalks the whole way, so it was a big adventure.
I had a purple Schwinn mountain bike that I got in middle school; it had a rack on it so I could carry things. I had that bike all the way through college and put a lot of miles on it.
My current favorite bike, is my E-bike. I use it mostly as a commuting bike – to the grocery store, to the park, to the farmers market. Since I have been working from home, I didn’t put gas in my car for a couple of months because I was only riding.
What is your focus when working to better your community for bicycles?
As an engineer, my focus is on design. I know that we can design our roads better to make them safer for all users. Most of us in the engineering industry weren’t taught how to design for people riding bikes, walking, and rolling.
It seems natural [for me] to incorporate bikes into the roadway designs. Through my career, I have gotten to know Helen Peters of Salt Lake County Transporation, and she suggested I join Salt Lake County Bicycle Advisory Committee (SLCBAC).
“The mission of the Salt Lake County Bicycle Advisory Committee is to advise the Salt Lake County Mayor’s Office in all bicycle-related matters, and to promote bicycling as a safe, healthy, equitable, and beneficial mode of transportation.”
Have you noticed any improvements in how roadways are designed, especially from a bicycling perspective?
When I first started [my career], bikes were an afterthought. It started slowly, but now, I would say 95% of the projects I work on have a bike component. Cities and the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) are not only asking for bike lanes, but they are wanting to find ways to make biking more comfortable and safe by providing additional separation and protection.
One of the hardest things is getting the space in the roadway-typical section and finding ways to reduce the roadway width for vehicles, while still maintaining a level of service that is acceptable [for all users].
What do you do to overcome those difficulties?
There are many places where 10-foot lanes are appropriate. Most travel lanes are 12-feet wide. So if you are able to get 2 feet out of each lane and convert that to bike space, pretty soon you have bikeways on both sides of the road without having the expense of widening.
The other thing is the utility poles! They are usually in the exact same location we would like to put a bike facility or sidewalk. They are very expensive to move, so it is usually something we have to work around. Working with the roadway owner and finding a way to make all the modes work together is the best way to overcome the difficulties.
What future projects do you hope to see happen in Salt Lake County?
3900 South. I want to see a separate bikeway go from Wasatch Blvd. on the East Bench to Bacchus Highway on the West.
What keeps you motivated as a bicycle advocate?
Sometimes I get frustrated and want to see more progress, but I have to look back and see how far we have come in a short amount of time. The other SLCBAC members are great, I work with great people at Avenue Consultants.
I get to work with great clients at the cities and UDOT. I also am on the National Committee for Uniform Traffic Control Devices – Bicycle Technical Committee with a lot of amazing designers and planners from across the country. With more money being available from the federal government and local funding to build bike facilities, we are only going to continue to see more and better places to bike.
What advice do you have for someone who is interested in bicycle advocacy, but doesn't know where to start?
One of the best things you can do is ride your bike and get others to ride their bikes. The more people are out biking, the more facilities will get built.
Second, there are a lot of opportunities to comment on environmental documents and roadway designs to make sure your voice is heard in support of building bikeways.
If you are doing all those things and you still want more, there are bike advocacy groups, like SLCBAC, local to Utah – some at the county level, city level, or on a regional scale. Jump on the internet and start searching!
Do you have a follow-up question for Blair? Would you like more info about your local bicycling advocacy group or have a specific active transportation project you’d like to see initiated? Do you know an advocate we should highlight? Email info@bikeutah.org!
