S.L. ponders 'super ticket' to culture and TRAX

Imagine a superticket giving entry to four museums, a planetarium, a science center and still leaving a person with light-rail fare for the ride home.

It's a nifty concept, and Salt Lake City leaders, in potential partnership with Salt Lake County, are trying to determine if such a ticket could be created. Thursday the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency Board will consider spending $50,000 to launch a study designed to show if such a plan is feasible.

The study would come as city and county leaders find themselves in a unique situation to spur economic development in and around downtown Salt Lake City. The Children's Museum of Utah, the Clark Planetarium, the Museum of Utah Art & History, the Leonardo, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts and the Utah Natural History Museum are all located on or near the University TRAX light-rail line.

With such easy public access to the array of cultural hot spots, city and county officials figure if they could sell a single ticket that would let people into all the attractions and also give them access on the light-rail system. Many families, kids and others perhaps would jump at the opportunity.

"Kids could get on it without having to have mom and dad drive them around," Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency Board Chairman Eric Jergensen said. "The idea is that we create interest and synergism among all the cultural venues that are located along the TRAX line."

The attraction hopefully would mean there would be more people to visit restaurants and patronize retailers downtown.

And as the RDA board considers allocating $50,000 for the study, there is some indication that Salt Lake County may be willing to pay for half of that study, according to the RDA.

Still, some think the idea is such a slam dunk they wonder if a study is even needed. A citizen committee that advises the RDA Board is encouraging city leaders to forgo spending the $50,000 and instead direct staffers to work on raising support and developing a marketing plan for the program.

The citizen committee "felt that through a coordinated effort among the city, county and possibly state, UTA (Utah Transit Authority) and the individual venues, the project could be accomplished at minimal cost," RDA executive director Dave Oka noted in a report.

Whether a study is needed or not, the Salt Lake Chamber is also interested in making the project happen.

"The concentration of so many attractions along a single, convenient TRAX line presents a unique opportunity to encourage visitors to lengthen their stay, and a unique vehicle to increase visitation at some of our most important cultural and educational venues," Chamber President Lane Beattie said in a letter to the RDA. "It could be one of the most cost-effective economic development strategies available to us."

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