Re "Salt Lake City Council may roll out a new bike panel" (Tribune, July 21):

I'm glad that Salt Lake may get a new bicycle advisory board. We need a strong advocate in the city for recreational and commuter biking.

With the creation of "walkable neighborhoods" with "complete streets," which often means striped bike lanes so roads may be used by more than cars, like 1300 East, it is a lot easier for people to use a bike.

Given the layout of Salt Lake, it will always be auto-dependent to a regrettably large degree. But to the extent that we can switch to bikes, we will pollute less, consume less, be healthier and create a friendlier urban feel.

Just imagine how downtown Salt Lake would feel if its bike lanes were visibly full of cyclists. It would be a much more vibrant place.

Visible bike lanes tempt people to buy bikes, and a strong bike committee advocating innovations to move us in the direction of more bike use is necessary.

Joe Sayers

Salt Lake City