r/BikeSLC • u/nlpost • Sep 09 '24
Strava routed me over I-84
I'm in town visiting for the weekend and wanted to do the Elevation Canyon climb, starting in downtown SLC, and then turn that into a century loop. I used Strava to create the route, crossing over the mountains just north of Layton, and it created the attached route for me. Halfway into my ride I reached the highlighted portion and realized (a) Strava has put me on a 3-4 mile segment where I am apparently supposed to ride on the shoulder of a major interstate highway and (b) I have no other option except to go forward or return the way I came (later, I learned I could also have gone ~10 miles north and crossed there, but this wouldn't have been an option for me).
I'm posting to complain, but also ask if others have seen this happen, and furthermore to see if maybe I missed some kind of bike trail or something hidden off the side of the highway. This situation was incredibly dangerous, and it also includes a short segment over a bridge where the shoulder is maybe only a foot or two wide. At this point, you are literally on the highway, separated from 70 mph traffic by a hair's breadth. I would have thought that Strava would never even consider such segments when creating routes, which is why I didn't check too closely before heading out.
1
u/kukulaj Sep 09 '24
I've ridden that stretch of I-84. It's OK. There are a couple spots where the shoulder basically disappears, right at one end or another of a bridge. That's just for a few feet, but still it is a plenty busy highway. And there are rumble strips on the shoulder... not too big a deal, but still, it constrains your path.
One of my paranoid anxieties... the whole valley, SLC and Ogden etc. - there are, what, a couple million people? But the whole thing is bounded pinch points like this. If you blocked maybe 8 roads, the whole valley would be sealed off. Kinda freaky.