A gentelman from U-dot stopped by the store to post information about parking on I-84 to fish the weber river,between Morgan and Riverdale. From Sept. 1 to Oct. 1, there will be a grace period were UHP officers will give out warnings, after that they will ticket people for parking along the highway.
U-dot,DWR,weber pathways are working on purchasing properties and transfering athority over properties to give us access and places to park.
Hope this helps keep my friends out of trouble!
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Thanks for the info James but I wonder why U-Dot is shutting down the parking along the freeway. Do you think they are going to start working on that section of the road? Between the mouth of Weber canyon and Riverdale there is parking ever where, I wonder how many parking areas they will need to make to cover that whole area. I guess time will tell how this whole thing will work out but in the mean time, there are going to be a lot of upset fishermen when they find out.
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Judging by the time frame, I would say it has to do with plowing.
Rut
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It has always been illegal to park next to an interstate. The only authorized access to them is the on ramps. It is also illegal to do a u-turn, I'm sure you've all seen the signs at paved sections between the roads that highway patrolmen frequent. It is also illegal for pedestians to be in these areas. I grew up within walking distance of the river between the mouth of the canyon and Riverdale and used to walk down to it, having to cross the roadway. I was stopped on occasion by highway patrolmen informing me that I shouldn't be crossing them. I also know the local judge in South Weber and he would never budge on tickets written to motorists who did u-turns between the freeway. It's unfortunate that they will be closing down a big section of water. It isn't so much the fisherman that are causing the problem. A section is being used by paintball enthusiasts and there are so many cars pulled to the side of the road it looks like a disorganized parking lot on one section. It does create a huge safety hazard with people pulling on and off the freeway. I just hope the proposed weber river parkway can be completed.
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As PDS says the paintballing created too much parking on the freeway, and also the trash that was being left behind and the unsitely paint on the trees made it so they could not keep over looking the parking. they were afraid of the accidents climbing. They will be posting signs and putting up fences too.
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[#505000]Based on the starting post I'm going to assume they are talking about parking ON the freeway (shoulder, grassy area just off the shoulder ect...).[/#505000]
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[#505000]1. Utah Law prohibits non-emergency stops on a freeway. Yes you can get a ticket for running out of gas on the interstate or changing drivers.[/#505000]
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[#505000]2. Utah Law prohibits pedestian traffic on interstates. [/#505000]
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[#505000]Under Utah law definitions the freeway consists of everything between the fences on either side to keep animals off it. [/#505000]
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[#505000]A lot of these laws aren't too heavily enforced however it sounds like there has been a lot of abuse near this river so they are going to start enforcing it. From experience I can tell you a lot of laws on the books are usually over looked until something starts to become a problem, or the laws are put on the books to curb a problem, then are over looked until the problem arises again. [/#505000]
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[#505000]Parking on the shoulder of a freeway is a real safety issue because if someone loses control of their vehicle and hit a parked car it could potentially kill them or make what would otherwise be an unfortunate accident a tragic accident. [/#505000]
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[#505000]Police Officers/Troopers generally won't have a driver exit a vehicle they have stopped because we don't want the liability of a driver getting injured outside the vehicle be passing traffic (obviously long odds but it does happen). Someone getting out of a car at a parking lot or on a 25mph road getting hit by a car will possibly be injured but likely nothing fatal. If a fisherman parking on the freeway gets hit by a stray car going freeway speeds he is most certainly headed for "the big lake in the sky".[/#505000]
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[#505000]Also slowing down to pull over and park on the freeway shoulder can really bugger up the flow of traffic if there is heavy traffic, and on the same token merging back into traffic going freeway speeds can be dangerous as well. [/#505000]
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