Salt Lake City Police and Utah Transit Authority officials say they are prepared for an exceptionally busy weekend in downtown Salt Lake City. The General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints typically draws more than 100,000 people into the city twice a year. But additional weekend events will push traffic and parking limits even further. They include the NCAA Gymnastics Regional Competition at the University of Utah and a Saturday night concert by Justin Bieber at Vivant Smart Home Arena. Salt Lake City Police Detective Dennis McGowan says nearly all of the department’s resources are available downtown.
“We’re urging people just to kinda; when they’re down here, not to get too amped up or stressed out in the middle of all that when they’re driving especially. And kind of be alert to all the pedestrians;" says McGowan, "all the pedestrian traffic.”
McGowan suggests leaving extra time to park and plan to walk farther than you normally would.
Remi Barron of Utah Transit Authority has another suggestion: “TRAX.”
“What we’re doing is increasing capacity by adding trains and adding cars to existing trains," says Barron, "We can move a lot of people quickly by doing that.”
Barron says just as is the case with all major University sporting events, Gymnastics tickets are also good for a free one-day pass on TRAX.
