Six arguments against a gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon
The Salt Lake County Council voted this week to call for the gondola option to be “eliminated from consideration” as a way to manage Little Cottonwood Canyon. Thanks to all who made public comments against the gondola, at the committee meeting, and through the Utah Department of Transportation’s (UDOT) website. You are still able to submit comments on the gondola to UDOT here!
We’ve been opposed to this gondola from the start. David Sheer had an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune outlining the many reasons why. He lists six.
“1. UDOT’s own criteria emphasize that the preferred alternative must benefit all users of the canyon. The gondola only benefits patrons of Alta and Snowbird and, not incidentally, the owners of these resorts who would be, in effect, receiving an enormous public subsidy.
2. The gondola towers would permanently deface the natural beauty of the canyon, diminishing the experience of all future visitors, including those who derive no benefit from the gondola.
3. The traffic delays and crowds foreseeable at the gondola base will cause many prospective users to drive instead.
4. Better and much cheaper alternatives exist that UDOT has not considered. One would be to implement alternate day access depending on whether a vehicle’s license plate number is even or odd. Another would be mandatory carpooling enabled by an app (similar to Uber’s) to match drivers and riders who would meet at a designated place near the bottom of the canyon. It’s understandable, although not in the public’s interest, that the ski resorts would object to such arrangements for fear they would reduce the number of skier-days.
5. However, the resorts, and all of us, must realize that the only way to save Little Cottonwood Canyon is to limit the number of people who use it. This should be done in an equitable way (i.e. not a toll).
6. Finally, it is short-sighted to spend half a billion public dollars on an industry whose economic importance will decline as our snowpack thins. By the time the gondola is finished, it is entirely possible that Utah will no longer be the ski destination that it has been in the past. Of course, the ski resorts refuse to consider this future. Whatever solution is adopted, it should minimally impact the experience of the canyon in case this future becomes reality. If the gondola is built, we will have permanently defaced the canyon and spent a huge sum of money for no purpose.”
We encourage you to reach out to the Salt Lake County Council members that did not vote to condemn the gondola option and express your concerns about the gondola as well. The members that voted against it include David Alford, Aimee Winder Newton, Steve DeBry and Dea Theodore.
Read the Tribune’s coverage of the County Council vote.