U. students want to spruce up Salt Lake City alleys

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City's many alleyways and side streets are sometimes dark, dank and less than inviting. But a group of students from the University of Utah hope to change that.

"Right now, the alleys and side streets are underutilized city assets," said J.P. Goates, a U. planning student. "The thoroughfares between city blocks exist but are unwelcoming and unfriendly to pedestrians."

After consulting a map of the city, students from the U.'s College of Architecture and Planning found an extensive network of interconnected public spaces that could be put to better use and add to the quality of city life. They presented their plans to city planners and members of the Downtown Alliance and Salt Lake Redevelopment Agency on Tuesday.

"It is a great conceptual leap forward," said Downtown Alliance Executive Director Jason Mathis. He said the U. student plan is his first exposure to such an idea locally, but that other cities, like Chicago, have successfully pulled it off, "turning under-appreciated spaces into amenities."

In the long-term, Mathis said, it might behoove Salt Lake to initiate some test areas, perhaps near Exchange Place – already landscaped, pedestrian-friendly spots – where development has already started.

"The students have put together ideas and possibilities for this plan that really make one think about what downtown Salt Lake City one day may easily become," Brenda Scheer, dean of the U.'s College of Architecture and Planning said, adding that she's proud of her students for "putting their time and talents to work for the community."

In an alley near the Capitol Theatre where Goates and other students are studying the effects of minor redevelopment, concrete remnants have been left sporadically, eliminating any good use of the space, while in another, a dirt-filled lot makes for a negative aesthetic value for the area.

"We want to show that with minor amounts of makeover, these spaces can become walkable, inviting places to attract people downtown," Goates said.

Nicknamed the City Narrows Project, the students have envisioned ways to bring the four blocks within the 150-year-old capital city to life. They'd like to line the alleys with shops and restaurants, as well as spaces for people to sit, and add various landscaping elements to make the areas more pleasant.