The Future of Travel in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
First and foremost, we would like to thank the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) for the hard work poured into the monumental task of evaluating transportation alternatives of Little Cottonwood Canyon. On Friday, September 3rd, the comment period closes on the UDOT Draft EIS which has landed on two transportation alternatives—an expanded bus system or gondola.
Alta is supportive of any alternative that reduces congestion and improves transportation in the canyon. We have thoroughly reviewed the transportation alternatives and believe the gondola alternative is the better choice.
Snowfall in Little Cottonwood Canyon promises two things, great skiing and traffic congestion. It's worth repeating that the primary cause of congestion and traffic delays related to Little Cottonwood Canyon is weather. Winter storms attract more visitors to the canyon, often close the mainline between Alta and Snowbird, reduces the road's traffic flow as it becomes slick and creates traffic backups due to closures for snow removal and avalanche mitigation work.
From Alta's perspective, the gondola alternative better mitigates weather-related traffic congestion issues than the enhanced bus alternative by providing a mode of transportation that doesn’t rely on a slick canyon road. The gondola alternative has less environmental impacts than the enhanced bus alternative, avoiding more paving to widen the road and emissions from more buses.
Since either of the alternatives may take 3-5 years to design, fund and implement, we are encouraging UDOT to adopt three interim solutions to reduce traffic congestion that we hope will be considered:
- Winter-long traction laws
- Minimizing road closure times
- Improving the traffic merge for Alta and Snowbird skiers
Read Alta GM Mike Maughan's comments submitted to UDOT on behalf of Alta Ski Area >
This is an important turning point for transportation in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Please take some time to provide constructive feedback to the UDOT Draft EIS before September 3rd.
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