General Conference expected to bring a lot of traffic to downtown Salt Lake City
Apr 4, 2025, 7:00 PM
Cars make their way up and down State Street as a temperature inversion traps and fills downtown Salt Lake City with smog on Jan. 31, 2017. (George Frey/Getty Images)
(George Frey/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY — As many as 100,000 people could be in the downtown area this weekend as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds its 195th Annual General Conference.
“If you’re downtown, it is going to be very busy. There’s going to be a lot of people out and about. A lot of people driving and walking and biking,” said John Gleason with the Utah Department of Transportation.
With that many people in the downtown area, Gleason said drivers are going to need to be extra cautious.
“If you’re in a car, just expect that you’re going to see people out on the sidewalks, people maybe crossing the street in places that they shouldn’t be. You always have to anticipate that and be ready to stop at a moment’s notice.”
He recommended using public transit or carpooling this weekend.
“Anything to cut down on the number of vehicles that are heading into the city. Especially when you have so many people that are attending one event in one location.”
Gleason said UDOT doesn’t have any construction projects in the downtown area right now, but Salt Lake City has a project going on 200 South and the ongoing reconstruction of the Salt Lake Temple could cause a disruption on North Temple.
However, with other events happening downtown this weekend, Gleason advised checking traffic before hitting the road.
“You’re going to want to check your traffic apps and just check what the trouble spots may be.”
