E-Bikes & E-Scooters on New Utah Trail Will Eliminate Fossil-Fuel-Burning Car Trips

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Here’s how the development of a critical bike trail extension plus the use of Ebikes and Escooters will decrease the use of fossil burning vehicles for recreation in Utah County, Utah, in the future.The Murdock Canal Trail runs along my back property line in Lindon, Utah, and extends 14 miles north/south. It connects on the south end with the Provo River Parkway that goes up Provo Canyon and on the north end with the Jordan River Trail which goes another 20 miles all the way to downtown Salt Lake City. Only two blocks to my north, it crosses the Lindon Heritage Trail, which runs east/west (see map below). To the east, the Heritage Trail reaches up to the trailhead for the mountain trails at the foot of 11,753 ft Mount Timpanogos, where you can hike, bike, or ride a horse. To the west, it will go down to the Lindon Marina on Utah Lake and connect to another trail for only a short distance to a great beach also on Utah Lake (see later images below). The problem has been that the Heritage Trail connection to Utah Lake was not completed, so the trail was essentially a trail to nowhere!

In the map below, on the bottom, you see the dotted line which shows the location of the final half mile, which is under construction now. The next image shows a culvert for a new bridge over a stream under construction, which is a key part of the extension to Utah Lake. The Heritage Trail completion has the potential to convert the bike trail to nowhere to one which could dramatically reshape recreation in Utah County and make biking, e-biking, and e-scooters a way that could dramatically decrease the use of fossil burning vehicles for recreation here.

I recently ran across an example of how e-biking can eliminate fossil-fuel-burning car or van trips. The photo below shows a young girl giving her younger sister a ride on an e-bike. You can see that don’t need to be an adult to take advantage of an e-bike. The girl would not be strong enough to carry her sister up the hill on a regular bike. If she is going to a friend’s house, she is saving her mom a trip in the family van. She could also be joining her family on a biking outing to Utah Lake on the newly completed Lindon Heritage Trail.

On the left below, see a girl on an e-scooter riding on the eastern part of the Lindon Heritage Trail. On the right, see a mom and two kids on an e-bike. Once the western extension is complete, I expect bicycle — particularly e-bike and e-scooter — riders to take the Heritage Trail all the way west to the Lindon Marina (see following image) and Vineyard Beach (see final images) on Utah Lake. Heavy-duty e-bikes like the mom is riding could be carrying beach towels, umbrellas, blowup paddle boards, and/or food instead of or in addition to kids.

Utah County has a population 750,000. The Murdock Canal Trail runs through the towns of Orem, Lindon, Pleasant Grove, American Fork, Cedar Hills, and Highland. The Murdock Canal Trail bisects the Lindon Heritage Trail. The Lindon Heritage Trail with its new extension will give safe access to Utah Lake. Both the Murdock Canal Trail and the Lindon Heritage Trail have underpasses that allow you to traverse the major highways, including I-15, safely. Lindon Heritage Trail connects to Vineyard Trail, which fronts on Utah Lake. A little more than a half mile down Vineyard Trail is Vineyard Beach, with picnic tables on Utah Lake as shown below. I have been riding the Lindon Heritage Trail to Utah Lake for 10 years. However, it required traversing a large industrial gravel lot and slipping through a narrow shoulder of a railroad track on my mountain bike. Thus, I was practically the only person making the trip all the way to Utah Lake.

With the official connection completed, riders on conventional bikes and road bikes as well as mountain e-bikes like mine will be able to make the journey easily and safely. With the trail separated from the streets and with underpasses going below major cross streets and highways, you will be able to safely bring along the whole family on bikes, including small kids. Therefore, a significant portion of the Utah County population will be able to safely reach the Lindon Marina boat harbor and Vineyard Beach by bicycle and scooter. I predict this will become a very popular route and allow families to go sunbathing, swimming, and paddle boarding at the beach. They will also be able go to their boat at the marina safely by bicycle. I’m sure that it will save many fossil-fuel-burning automobile and van trips in the future.

Utah Lake is a very large lake of almost 150 square miles but is not regarded as a primary recreation destination for most of the local residents. It is a turbid (brown) shallow lake which is only 14 ft at its deepest. The Vineyard area on the lake was formerly the location of the huge Geneva Steel plant that was built during World War II. Other areas around Utah Lake were also industrial or are swampy. However, the huge new Vineyard residential area on the former Geneva Steel plant location now sits directly on the lake. Most of the Utah County residents prefer the clear mountain reservoirs like nearby Deer Creek Reservoir, Jordanelle Reservoir, and Strawberry Reservoir. However, the mountain reservoirs are very cold and get very crowded. In the photo above, you see me slalom skiing on Utah Lake. I predict that as more residential neighborhoods like Vineyard and destinations like Vineyard Beach on Utah Lake become more common, Utah Lake will become a prime recreation area.