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SALT LAKE CITY — Another overwhelming response from the public could possibly delay a decision from Utah transportation officials on their plan for the traffic in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
The Utah Department of Transportation announced in August it would move forward with a $550 million gondola to solve growing traffic concerns in the canyon. A 45-day public comment period on the Little Cottonwood Canyon Final Environmental Impact Statement wrapped up Oct. 17. The final step in the process — the record of decision — is now listed to be completed by the end of winter.
Getting to the final statement ended up taking months longer than was initially anticipated because of the high volume of comments. UDOT project manager Josh Van Jura told members of the Salt Lake City Council that it seems likely that could happen again, as the most recent public comment window generated more than 13,000 new comments for engineers to sift through — bringing the total to 35,000 comments overall.
That's much more than what the current timeline takes into consideration.
"We do anticipate that we'll have to do some amount of additional engineering and analysis, we just don't know the scope of that yet," he said, noting that every comment will be read and answered. "Optimistically, we'll stay on track with (the current timeline)."
Salt Lake City's concern with the gondola
Van Jura spoke to the Salt Lake City Council because Utah's capital city has a vested interest in the project, as the city holds the water rights to the creek that runs through the canyon. City officials call the Little Cottonwood Creek watershed a "critical water supply" for more than 450,000 people in Salt Lake County.
It's why Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall weighed in on UDOT's plan when it was announced in August.
"I remain very concerned about the watershed and environmental impacts of a gondola system in Little Cottonwood Canyon," she said at the time. "The city's chief concern is that the gondola will create significant risk to the canyon watershed through its construction and operations, as well as by inducing substantial additional visitation and development pressures to the watershed."
UDOT maintains that the project will "improve air quality, protect the watershed and increase the quality of life for residents and canyon users by reducing traffic congestion as private vehicles shift to transit."
However, members of the Salt Lake City Council then passed a resolution last month informing UDOT of their concerns about any impacts the project may have on the watershed, "including the risks associated with construction and operation of the gondola, as well as the risks associated with increased visitation to the watershed because the gondola is not shown to reduce the number of personal vehicles per hour in the peak period over other alternatives evaluated and will increase overall visitation capacity."
The resolution called on the agency to come up with a "lower impact, adaptive approach to addressing transportation issues in Little Cottonwood Canyon," while adding that the city is open to collaboration especially related to watershed protection.
City Councilwoman Victoria Petro-Eschler asked if the future gondola could potentially drip grease that is used to keep gondola cabins moving efficiently into the watershed.
These are the types of questions that UDOT engineers are trying to answer and resolve, ahead of their final decision.
"That's a good question," Van Jura said, in response. "We saw that comment and I never thought about greasing the wheels on top of the towers — I don't know the answer to this ... and I can follow up with you."
Most of UDOT's presentation followed what was presented to the public in August, including phased options like increased buses and tolling ahead of the gondola. It's still unclear when the construction of the gondola would begin — if and when it's included in the final record of the decision.
Project fundraising can begin after a record of decision is placed.
"We don't have the money today," Van Jura said, adding that UDOT has some money available through a past transportation spending bill and from a transportation investment fund but that won't cover the cost of the project. "But we also recognize that we have a problem today."
As his team continues to sift through the most recent public comments, some members of the council remained skeptical of the project and its ability to pull vehicles off the road. Salt Lake City Council Chairman Dan Dugan, for example, echoed sentiments from the council's letter as the presentation came to a close.
"I love the idea that we get up to the mountain easier and more efficiently, I'm just hesitant over the price tag of this level when we can flex buses when we need to," he said. "I know it's difficult for (the Utah Transit Authority) to do flex buses but when we're talking three days (a week) for a number of weekends, personally I would spend it somewhere else."
