Reader comments
Planners taking close look at recreation possibilities

Josh | 11:50 p.m. Sept. 14, 2009

Imagine a light rail system connecting the University of Utah to Red Butte canyon, from Red Butte to Parleys, Parleys to Big (and up big) and from big to little (and up little). This would not only give access from downtown to resorts, but it would also allow more people to use the park and ride facilities at the base of the canyon, since tracks would be faster than buses up the canyon. This would also allow everyone living in cottonwood heights/Holladay easy access to Red Butte Canyon, The University of Utah, and Downtown. Not only would it make the canyons greener, but all of the city greener. It would allow for easier recreating with less traffic in the canyons. Once the light rail systems were completed up Big and Little cottonwood canyons, a fee would be required to drive an automobile up the canyon, and passengers would be able to ride the train up the canyons for free with their day or seasons passes.

To Josh | 12:16 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Great ideas. I support your plan.

Priorities | 3:07 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

For those canyons that serve as watersheds we need to make that the sole use and close down the watershed canyons to all other activities. People can go elsewhere to hike, bike, ski, and walk their dogs.

Light rail to the ski resorts? You can't be serious. I can't wait to see the design (and the environmental impact statement)for extending light rail past Storm King Mtn in Big Cottonwood canyon.

Comments continue below

Sundance guy | 3:37 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Imagine the cost Josh. Imagine the cost. Our taxes are already too high. Light rail makes sense in densely populated areas; not the canyons. Planning must be realistic. Maybe someday up Parleys to Park City.

Environuts | 6:37 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

The environuts and SLC Water dept. would never allow ANY development in the fragile canyons! They are too anti-recreationalist.

Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory | 7:06 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

When a pet dog is allowed on public transit (such as the proposed/suggested light rail) people can leave their car at home or at the park and ride. This would reduce a lot of the damage and risks caused by automobiles visiting the canyons.

Large pet dogs (too big to carry) are allowed on transit in Boston, Calgary, San Francisco, Seattle and Toronto, plus many ferries, a few suburban bus operations serving Seattle and Toronto, by a carshare operator in Toronto, unofficially on the Metro North system in the NYC area and of course all over Europe.

Ernest T. Bass | 7:45 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

The "Environuts" are the only people stopping repugs from over-consuming themselves to death.

Elmer | 8:23 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Privatize the canyons. Sell to big buck corporations. Keep the little people out. End of problem.

My experience | 8:33 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

For being a native of Utah with Mt. Olympus in my backyard, I must say that the Cole Porter song, "Don't Fence Me In" comes to mind. . . I don't only speak of Big and Little Cottonwood, but elsewhere, and yes I agree that water, and pure water is very important. I simultaneously can't deny that I've been frustrated over the years with a society in general that encourages its youth to be out and about, but then locks off just about any roadway to actual/true adventure. Whoever the picklesucklers are with rope swings that drop into Mt. Lakes where a person can swim in that lake in their free America are, or the sticklers who block trails on 'public' lands from horses, and other means of human transportation, granted I believe in respect to others' need for solitude, and noise limitations - but goodness I sure do feel like telling a certain crowd that they really need to loosen up! Ironically it's the very crowd who often uses illegal drugs and who preach the song of 'freedom'. Self inflicted vices with locked off lives that leave no alternatives for kids but video games.

Anonymous | 8:40 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Adding light rail to the canyons is a horrible Idea. It will take the wilderness feel out of them. This is why salt lake is so great. In just a few minutes you are in a canyon that makes you feel like you are miles away from any city. Don't do the light rail. Buses are enough!

Bear Rug | 8:41 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Are you serious Ernest T.? It was the Enviro-nuts that tripled or quadrupled the cost of the Legacy Parkway. They had to have their pretty little ride, with turnouts, and jogging trails. They needed expensive street lights just for the aesthetic value--the practicality be damned. All of the bridges have to have ornamental iron, and sculpted concrete panels. I enjoy the Parkway, make no mistake, but we could have done it for a lot less, if the enviro-nuts had have kept their noses out of it.

Anonymous | 9:36 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Closing the Watershed to activities is possibly the stupidest idea I have ever heard. 4 ski resort are on the water shed. All the canyons are in the watershed, Big and Little Cottonwood canyon, Millcreek, Bell, Neffs (Millcreek, Red
Butte and Emigration are the only canyons not protected), Parleys, City Creek, Red Butte and Emigration. Lets close all the mountains down that would be good to Salt Lake City.

Water shed | 9:44 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Interesting they keep dogs out of the moutains, but the wild life and skiers are free to us the restrooms in the trees....

Red Butte Canyon | 10:05 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

will always be closed to the public. There is no reason for it to be opened. The canyon itself belongs to the U of U and has federal protection. I was a research assistant @ the U and the canyon is beautiful with native plant species and native megafauna. It would be a mistake to open it to the public, and I believe it will never be open. That's fine with me. We have plenty of other space for people to recreate in. Red Butte is a gem for plant biologists and other scientists and should be kept to a limited population. And Red Butte Creek is protected as is the canyon. Don't put in a light rail system. As a matter of fact, implement what they do in Zion Nat'l Park. Decrease the amount of traffic of cars, uses the buses more and keep as much technology out as possible.

Crowded | 10:06 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

The Wasatch Mountains are already too crowded. Don't make access to them any easier. I remember the days hiking trials and not seeing a soul. Now it's all, "Excuse me, mind if I walk past, nice horse, oh that's a dog, don't forget to pick up that power bar wrapper, cool there's actually a wildflower that hasn't been stepped on."

Control | 10:47 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Its all about CONTROL!!! Fed. State and local Gov. want to control everything. Church and religion want to control everything. The Utah culture wants to have control on behavior and choices. My parents tried to control everything. Granted not all is bad in what they are trying to enforce, but not all is great either.

Are you tired of being controlled? I am...

John | 11:04 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

I think lightrail up I-80 to Park City is fine, but up the canyons? No way! What a nightmare that would create, not just to build, but to maintain.

As for dogs, I'm split down the middle. I don't have a dog and I want the water protected, but I don't mind other's dogs in the canyons. It's a hard issue to say blanket "yes" or "no" on.

Light Rail !? | 11:14 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

To Josh and anyone else wanting Light Rail to snake around, through, and over the canyons: Fine by me as long as Josh and all his friends in Cottonwood Heights, Holiday, and SLC foot the tax bill.

Do me a favor though, after you over crowd the canyons don't come whining to me saying you need to restrict usage to an elite "ecofriendly" user group and charge all kinds of fees beacuse the ecosystem is being destroyed.

Good Luck!

Paco | 11:23 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

I agree with the smart person who says we should make big cottonwood transit like Zions NP. There shouldn't be a train up that canyon, come on...

Light rail to the park and rides! Sounds good for holladay/cottonwood but would we ever use it? Possibly.

Alls I know is wherever my mountain bike is, I want no dogs, whether that's alternate days or watershed boundaries I don't care.

Provo canyon | 11:37 a.m. Sept. 15, 2009

The bike path up Provo Canyon is a great success. When I have ridden the path, there are hundreds of users of all ages. I would love to see something similar in the other canyons.

A bike path from the Bonneville trail up to Park City would be an incredible resource. You could then connect it in with the Emigration canyon road bike traffic.

BRT | 12:26 p.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Josh... I do like your ideas of using public transit as an alternative to get up through the canyons, especially in the winter time. But I must agree with many of the comments posted that it would be costly but more importantly it wouldn't be used efficiently enough. There are a lot of options here though. Bus Rapid Transit comes to mind. Several large cities use this system which uses buses that have designated lanes instead of trains. This would make more sense because it could be a seasonal system that comes and goes with the snow. Which in reality isn't so different from what we already have. UTA runs seasonal public transit up the canyons already.

Johnson | 12:35 p.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Good idea except for one thing, the Federal government isn't going to be able to pay for it...

Dog b gone | 12:44 p.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Start with banning dogs from all of the Canyons and trails leading to and from.

Provo | 12:45 p.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Yea the bike trail up Provo Canyon to Utah Lake is fantastic, I use it all the time. I wish they had stuff like that up the canyons in Salt Lake. Living up here now, it's not as much fun to just ride in the city.

Won't work | 1:06 p.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Dedicated bus lanes and light rail up BCC and LCC? HAHAHAAAHHAAAA...The road is already too narrow for cars let alone adding additional lanes for buses or light rail. You will never be able to eliminate vehicle lanes up the canyon. No one is going to pack their mtn bikes, tents and camping gear, backpacks and whatever gear that is usually required to spend a day or weekend in either canyon and load it onto a train or bus. The ski areas already require too many trucks up the canyon to support their operations. Highway Patrol and search and rescue will need access. These canyons are far too narrow to support such a rediculous idea as light rail up LCC and BCC. This is one of the most absurd articles written regarding public transportation up the canyons.

Enviros | 1:14 p.m. Sept. 15, 2009

let the tree huggers have there own community and have them stop hurting those who want development growth and wealth. Anyones entitled to visit any Canyon in anyway possible. Personally i think the wagon days are over and Utahs traffic is horrible light rail is a great idea to bring more people in a more efficient way wich means more $ and more jobs so enviro stop thinking about the next endagered weed there is to smoke and think about what helps the community the most and prepares for Utahs growth and traffic and go save an endagered species like ours.

Save Our Canyons | 1:21 p.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Themes, ideals and vision are one thing; practical application is quite another. One: I'm all for expanding road base and marking for road bike lanes in the (applicable) canyons. Two: Expanded park and ride should exist for Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons - both "base" areas are inadequate and street parking overloaded in the winter season. Three: Winter ski busses, with the new park and ride at 3900 S. and Wasatch, should pick up citizens at that spot, in addition to Big and Little Cottonwood. Four: An expanded trax system should swing from the University SE along the east bench (paralleling Wasatch Blvd.) and swing at least south to the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon: Otherwise it's a disjointed effort to take trax to the U, and then an express bus (that only runs early morning and afternoon). Fifth, geological, stream & ecology vitality, and a cost benefit analysis should exist before a rail system enters Little Cottonwood Canyon. No thanks to a rail system in Big Cottonwood - too much ecological damage. And while planners are at it - a Heli Free Wasatch!

Anonymous | 2:40 p.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Turn the gravel pit into a huge parking lot and have a tram or gondolas take you to Brighton and Snowbird.

Old Timer | 2:59 p.m. Sept. 15, 2009

I don't think there is a problem with the way the canyons are being used by the public. I don't mind seeing another person on the trail when I'm hiking. I hiked to Lake Blanch on Labor Day (the day the news said the canyons were being over-used) and I didn't notice a problem. I passed some other hikers and I saw some other people at the lake, but that's not a problem to me.

You've NEVER been able to go up these near-urban canyons and never see another human. I don't know what "Crowded | 10:06 a.m." is talking about.

Bottom_line... I just hope they don't just slap a fee or other restrictions that make it so people like "Crowded 10:06 a.m." can have the canyons to themselvs. They are for ALL to use FREELY.

With the way many in America are clamoring for more regulation, and more government control of things... I wouldn't be suprised to see them slap a fee on the canyons to keep us local rif_raf out. Then the out_of_towners and upper_crust could have the canyons to themselvs.

My idea | 3:03 p.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Why not just have a system of solar-powered mini blimps shuttle people from the mouth of BCC and LCC? There is no ecological footprint and it would be a lot of fun, especially when a big storm is coming in.

Anonymous | 4:28 p.m. Sept. 15, 2009

Start chargin single occupant vehicles a fee for using the canyon. You can give residents, property owners and essential ski resort employees (those involved with avalanche work) a pass to drive their cars up. use the increased revenue to make recreation improvements to the canyon and to purchase sensitive but undeveloped private land to preserve the watershed.

Josh | 10:48 p.m. Sept. 16, 2009

Yeah, a light rail all the way up the canyon isn't necessary..although it would be nice. But at least a light rail system coming from the University of Utah..down Foothill, parallel to Wasatch BLVD, ending at Little Cottonwood (or perhaps all the way to draper) would be really nice to get people to the canyon (not up the canyon), to the U, to draper, to downtown, etc.

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