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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah transportation officials on Wednesday finalized a future transportation plan for Little Cottonwood Canyon, picking a plan that includes a gondola amid backlash from conservation groups and local communities.
The Utah Department of Transportation entered its "Gondola Alternative B" as the official record of decision, which is considered the final step in the environmental impact statement. The plan also includes other steps like tolling and increased bus service that will be implemented well before the construction of a future gondola.
"This decision will help improve transportation in Little Cottonwood Canyon now and into the future," Josh Van Jura, a project manager for UDOT, said in a statement.
The agency says it is now expected to cost $729 million to implement everything after revisions were made to an initial estimate of about $550 million. A little more than a quarter of the cost is associated with tolling, trailhead improvements, snow sheds and improvements to Wasatch Boulevard.
It's also expected to add $4.4 million in operation and maintenance costs every winter with an additional $3.3 million every year should summer service be included.
Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, who is among those opposed to the gondola, said Wednesday that she's "disappointed" but not surprised UDOT is moving forward with including that portion of the project. She added that she's happy UDOT will focus on more buses and tolling first, though.
"I continue to stand with the majority of residents who are opposed to a massive, half-a-billion dollar gondola permanently marring Little Cottonwood Canyon," she said in a statement. "We believe commonsense solutions can solve the problem. I will continue to work collaboratively with UDOT and stakeholders to make sure commonsense solutions prove we do not need a costly and unsightly gondola in our cherished canyon."
A three-phase plan
The plan UDOT selected will be implemented in three stages, with the first changes noticeable over the next few years.
In a video explaining the decision, Van Jura said planning for the first phase will begin "immediately." This includes plans to increase bus service up the canyon with new resort bus stops and a "mobility hub" by a gravel pit near the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. This first phase also includes new tolling measures and roadside parking restrictions.
The changes are projected to be implemented in the fall of 2025, which is when 10- to 15-minute bus service up the canyon will be available. The additional service, Van Jura said, could be provided by the Utah Transit Authority, a private vendor or a "hybrid solution" of the two.
This comes after UTA cut its ski bus service in half amid employee shortages this past winter. Salt Lake County, Visit Salt Lake, UTA and four resorts came together to provide an emergency secondary option this winter, which ultimately picked up a little more than 9,000 riders over a 12-week span.
The new bus stops will include lockers and bathrooms for skiers and snowboarders. Meanwhile, the mobility hub will add about 1,500 parking stalls by Big Cottonwood Canyon, though the hub will serve other UTA routes along with the two canyons, Van Jura said.
A new tolling fee would likely be between $25 to $30 per day during peak traffic days. The funding for this phase was included during this year's legislative session, agency officials said.
The second phase, which will be implemented sometime after funding is secured, includes plans to widen and improve Wasatch Boulevard, which leads people to the canyon. Van Jura says that's because projections indicate that road usage will increase by 45% by 2050, which will double the travel time on the road.
The second phase also calls for new snow sheds to address avalanche safety concerns. These will cover a pair of common slide paths, which is expected to reduce closures tied to avalanches. Crews would also make improvements to parking at the White Pine, Lisa Falls and Gate Buttress trailheads while adding a new area called "The Bridge."
A gondola from the mouth of the canyon up to Alta is in the final phase of the plan, also determined by future funding. The plan calls for a base with 2,500 parking spaces at the mouth; each gondola cabin will hold up to 35 people. Once the gondola is up and running, the bus service up the canyon will be discontinued and the mobility hub will focus more on Big Cottonwood Canyon.
The Wasatch Front Regional Council, which voted in May to include all three phases in its 27-year regional transportation plan, estimates that this may not be implemented until the 2040s.
A record response
UDOT's Little Cottonwood Canyon project was first announced to the public in 2020 as the agency looked for ways to cut about 30% of the vehicles that use the canyon. Officials said that they projected that it may take 80 to 85 minutes to travel through the canyon by 2050 based on trends.
It ended up receiving about 50,000 public comments over the past few years — the most in the agency's history. Van Jura said the plan was selected after "thorough research, analysis, engineering, public outreach and the careful review" of those comments.
"Gondola Alternative B" emerged as UDOT's preferred plan in August 2022, besting other proposed options like widening state Route 210 through the canyon or implementing a cog railway system that had been proposed.
The option selected is the cheapest, over a 30-year life cycle, of the three options that were considered, according to UDOT. Other options were estimated to exceed $1 billion.
But the gondola, in particular, led to concerns from environmental groups, residents and community leaders. For example, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said last year that she was "very concerned" about the environmental impacts of a gondola in the canyon. Salt Lake City holds the water rights to Little Cottonwood Creek as part of its water supply.
Others against the plan argue that it would cost public taxpayers while benefitting private resorts on top of numerous environmental concerns. Carl Fisher, executive director of the environmental nonprofit Save Our Canyons, told KSL.com in May that he expects there will be "many legal challenges" tied to the gondola.
Sandy Mayor Monica Zoltanski called UDOT's decision to include the gondola "disheartening," adding Wednesday that it had gained "overwhelming community opposition."
However, UDOT officials contend that the gondola offers the "highest travel reliability," arguing that it has "low impacts to the watershed, wildlife movement and climbing boulders, along with low operations and maintenance costs."
Van Jura told KSL Newsradio's "Dave and Dujanovic" Wednesday that funding "has not been identified" for the second and third phases; however, UDOT could look for funding from the Legislature or the federal government, or through a public-private partnership.
While discouraged by the outcome, Wilson said she's encouraged that UDOT will begin with smaller steps first.
"I guess on some level, I'm happy to see this (record of decision) issued, so we can put it behind us and we can move onto phase one," she said, on the radio program. "I'm actually anticipating that the public is going to respond with being willing to hop onto those buses — and we're going to prove we never needed that gondola."
Contributing: Debbie Dujanovic
