The Utah Department of Transportation has finalized its selection of a gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Officially called “Gondola Alternative B,” UDOT’s announcement is the final step in a years-long process of selecting a project to help alleviate ongoing traffic woes in the canyon. The department identified the gondola as its preferred alternative last August and was waiting for the final environmental impact study analysis before issuing a final decision.
“This decision will help improve transportation in Little Cottonwood Canyon now and into the future,” said Josh Van Jura, UDOT trails and group director and Little Cottonwood EIS project manager.
“It took more than five years of thorough research, analysis, engineering, public outreach, and the careful review of roughly 50,000 formal public comments, more than any previous environmental study in UDOT’s history, to come to this decision,” he added.
In a phased approach, public bus services would be enhanced in the canyon starting in 2025 before construction begins on roadway improvements and an eventual gondola, which some estimates say might not be implemented until at least 2040.
According to UDOT, the lion’s share of the project’s $729 million price tag, still needs to be secured. The money could come from the Legislature, federal transportation grants, or a mix of public and private funding.
Phase one, which expands bus service, has funding, according to UDOT.
The gondola proposal has stiff opposition from community groups and local elected officials. Opponents worried about the project’s environmental impacts and said a gondola would primarily benefit the canyon’s two ski resorts: Snowbird and Alta.
The project’s expected long timeline offered a silver lining to opponents.
“Today is not a day of doom and gloom … the gondola is at minimum 25 years away,” Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said following the UDOT announcement. “We have 25 years, people, those of us who care deeply about the canyon, to prove that bussing will work.”
Like Wilson, the mayor of Sandy, the Salt Lake City suburb at the mouth of the canyon, was disappointed in the decision but positive about the phases that come before the gondola.
“I am confident that these measures will significantly reduce traffic congestion problems in the canyon,” Mayor Monica Zoltanski said. “Once implemented, I believe there will no longer be a need for a billion-dollar taxpayer-funded gondola.”
UDOT preferred the gondola over a bus-only approach because of its reliability. A gondola, the department said, would not be subject to the same delays common on S.R. 210 like avalanches and vehicle crashes. Little Cottonwood Canyon was closed several times last winter because of avalanche conditions.
Still, opponents say the conversation about how to alleviate traffic in the canyon best is not new and they maintain that less-invasive approaches like improved bus infrastructure are the better option.
“I go back to my days as a new council member in 2005,” Wilson said. “In those early days, there were big ideas — a gondola, a train. We have chased a big shiny object for too long. What we really need to do is embrace those common sense solutions.”
According to UDOT, the enhanced bus service in the canyon would end once road improvements and the gondola construction are complete.
