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Jed Boal ReportingThe massive downtown overhaul raises questions about traffic for anyone who drives or walks in and around that area. The city and the chamber are already working with the contractors to make sure we don't run into gridlock.
Five years is a long time to negotiate around 20 acres of construction in the core of the city. Temple Square remains the most popular attraction in the state, luring several million visitors each year.
Businesses, restaurants and cultural events will carry on during construction, and the work itself will attract the curious.
Lane Beattie, Salt Lake Chamber President: "We're acting instead of reacting to make sure that we don't have those problems, so we thing we're very much in order."
Traffic from one high-rise and two malls will disappear when the buildings are leveled, but construction creates its own traffic. Traffic planners examine what kind of barricades it takes to make the area safe. They also work with the contractor to set locations where the work trucks can come and go.
Timothy Harpst, Salt Lake City Transportation Director: "We do plan to keep the streets open for traffic, and we do plan to keep the pedestrian ways open."
A condo construction project on 200 East is a good example of how traffic will flow, while City Creek Center is under construction. The builders have plenty of room for their work. Pedestrians still have a walkway, and traffic still flows in two lanes. That room came from a center turn lane that's now gone.
Trax is a big asset too; more than 20-thousand people ride it downtown each day.
Lane Beattie, Salt Lake Chamber President: "The ease of Trax that we didn't have when they were under construction, we now have. People can get in and out of town without an automobile."
Timothy Harpst, Salt Lake City Transportation Director: "If you're working downtown or living downtown, I would not worry about this, in fact, I would be excited about it."
The city plans observation areas where we can check out what's going on.
Once the project is done, an estimated 10-15-thousand more people will live downtown. The city is working on a new downtown master plan that includes additional light rail and bus service to handle more traffic.
Timothy Harpst, Salt Lake City Transportation Director: "Really we're looking at an increase in people that want to come downtown."
With Trax construction, I-15 reconstruction and the Olympics, we rode through our share of traffic troubles during the last decade. Planners learned many lessons that will help them now.
