But no plans have been announced about how parking will be addressed for major events such as viewing the lights on Temple Square or the LDS General Conference, which draws some 21,000 people downtown in October and April. Many of those people use the ZCMI Center and Crossroads Mall for parking.

As for street traffic, Tim Harpst, transportation director for Salt Lake City, said Tuesday that streets surrounding the project should remain open. But motorists will have to deal with periodic lane closures, barricades on the sides of the streets and in some cases reductions in lane sizes.

The Utah Department of Transportation met with church officials Monday to discuss traffic issues, spokesman Nile Easton said. The agency was told that traffic will increase on State Street during the construction, but it was "very preliminary" information, Easton said. The agency didn't know specifically how and why traffic would increase there, or by how much.

Traffic on State Street near North and South Temple is now about 22,000 cars a day.

For Knowles, the main challenge with the redevelopment is communicating to residents what the impacts will be and how they can access downtown. Web sites are planned to provide information, he said.

"We've got to talk to each other and make sure nothing is a surprise," Knowles said. "We're not closing downtown while this wonderful progress takes place."

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Contributing: Jenifer K. Nii

E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com

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