Big transportation projects coming to Salt Lake City after receiving $15.6 million
Jul 8, 2022, 3:34 PM | Updated: 4:02 pm
A total of eight projects to improve public transit will be completed in Salt Lake City over the next few years. Photo credit: Laura Seitz, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City now has at least eight different transportation projects in the works, after being awarded $15.6 million from the Utah Transportation Commission.
Becka Roolf, the strategic initiatives planner for the Salt Lake City Transportation Division said it was a surprise to receive so much funding.
“It’s been great that in the past couple of years the Utah Transportation Commission has dedicated a share of funding to go toward active transportation projects and transit projects,” she said. “We anticipated that they would be funding, maybe, a [of] couple projects a year.”
Roolf said that Salt Lake City Transportation has a robust list of transit projects put together.
“Salt Lake City is the destination for so many people within Northern Utah,” she said. “We have a lot of needs for transportation, particularly in our downtown area. We had submitted a list based on regionally significant projects. To our surprise, almost all of the projects throughout the state [ours] were funded.”
What transportation projects are on the horizon for SLC?
There are eight upcoming transportation projects for Salt Lake City. They aim to make it easier to walk and/or bike around the city.
Roolf said she can’t pick the one she is most excited about, but the 400 South viaduct trail is appealing.
“The 400 South viaduct trail is a proposal for a project that will be going across the 400 South viaduct, that’s between 900 West, just barely west of I-15,” she said. “There’s an elevated bridge that goes across the rail lines there. That bridge is fairly inhospitable to people who are walking and biking, but it connects the Poplar Grove neighborhood on the west side to downtown. It’s also one of the places that the Jordan River trail comes closest to downtown.”
Roolf called that bridge “relatively terrifying” for people walking or biking. She said the sidewalk there is not safe for people on foot or wide enough for cyclists.
“Our proposal here is to, basically, skinny-up all the travel lanes,” she said. “We’re not going to get rid of any lanes. We’re going to keep them all, but make them a little skinnier.”
By doing this, Roolf said, there will be more space on the south side of the bridge to add a multi-use trail.
“We’re very excited too, that we will be able to work with the Salt Lake Arts Council,” she said.
The Salt Lake Arts Council will work with an artist to make the trail, not only safe and comfortable but rewarding in some way, Roolf said. She said they have yet to see what the artist will come up with but they may do something visual or even with sound.
“We will be going to the community in collaboration with the artist in order to get ideas from the community for how we can make this crossing really be a highlight of people’s days,” she said.
More upcoming projects
The muti-use trail is one of the many upcoming transit projects.
According to a press release, the following projects will be completed throughout the next two to five years:
- Constructing a high-quality, two-way bike trail throughout Sugar House, to complete the Parley’s Trail.
- Improving transportation along North Temple near the Frontrunner station through a paved, multi-use trail, improved pedestrian crossings and adding street trees and shading elements.
- Creating a neighborhood byway in the Westpointe and Jordan Meadows neighborhoods. It will run parallel to Redwood Road and connect to the TRAX green line.
- Installing new bike lanes on Main Street from North Temple to the Capitol.
- Making pedestrian and bike crossing improvements to the 2100 S/State Street intersection.
- Improving pedestrian and bike safety on West Temple in the Downtown area.
- Investing in a transit hub and signals along 200 South. This will optimize transit capacity along a critical transit corridor through Salt Lake city.
Kira Hoffelmeyer contributed to this story.
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