PARK CITY, Utah — With Salt Lake City and northern Utah now locked in to host another Olympics, changes are expected to come to Park City, one of the expected hubs of the 2034 Games.
Park City residents are feeling cautiously optimistic about the return of the worldwide spectacle.
"It's exciting," said Betsy DeMann. "I think that people should know how wonderful our community is, and we really do live in the most beautiful place in the whole world and I'm not not too afraid to share it.”
More venues are expected to be situated in Park City and its surrounding areas than were there in 2002, a time Heber's Alie Jackson claims she was too young to remember.
“There was a lot of development and growth during that time, and I do believe that during the next Olympics, there could be a lot of really good growth that can happen that's a little more planned,” she said.
Jackson hopes hosting the Games will motivate officials to address the growing traffic and housing problems.
“I really would hope that, especially infrastructure, they could really focused on more like bike and bus paths and services so that it's a little bit easier to move around," Jackson said. "Especially, not just like within a car ... [but] building hopefully more housing for people that are like working up here.”
Ten years seems like a long time, but it will go by in a flash and DeMann plans to still be living in Park City when the cauldron is lit once again. She trusts that if change is coming, It will be for the better.
“It's a little bit frightening that we may attract a lot of people that that may overdevelop or develop too quickly," she said. "But 10 years is a lot of time to hopefully slow down and make it right.”
