SALT LAKE CITY — Utah leaders have boasted we could successfully host another Olympics now. But there are some logistical hurdles that must be cleared before we welcome the world back to Utah in 2034.
Leaders on Utah’s Capitol Hill believe transportation is the top issue that needs to be addressed before hosting again in 2034. Governor Spencer Cox said transportation improvements are necessary for a successful 2034 Olympics.
But there’s different ideas on what is needed.
"We have a lot of our infrastructure in place. We’ve done this before," said Utah Department of Transportation Executive Director Carlos Braceras.
Braceras was part of the planning at UDOT for the 2002 Winter Games, which included a massive rebuild of I-15.
"Our goal was to make transportation not a story. That means it just works and people were able to get where they wanted, when they wanted, how they wanted and do it safety. It did. It worked," he said.
But a lot has changed since 2002. This time around, Park City will be a bigger focus for transportation planners as more venues will be there for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
"We have projects that we’re working on now. Not because of the Games, but because we are growing as a state," Braceras explained. "There’s certain projects we want to accelerate, making sure they’re done prior to the Games. An example is double-tracking Frontrunner."
Speeding up Utah Transit Authority's Frontrunner system is a big priority of Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton.
"We are not leading the world in public transit. We can do it," he said in an interview with FOX 13 News.
The Senate President said he wants faster trains and mass transit systems and said "we need to prepare now."
"We don’t have room for a highway again," he added. "The future is Frontrunner. We need to start working on Frontrunner. It needs to be more efficient than I-15 or 215. It can’t take longer or people aren’t going to ride it."
UDOT does have plans for another massive freeway expansion, this time from Farmington to Salt Lake City. That will start around 2026, Braceras said. This year, the Utah State Legislature tasked UDOT with building UTA's capital projects, leaving the transit agency to handle the buses and trains.
But one mobility advocacy organization is urging political leaders to think bigger.
"I think transportation and mobility is already one of the biggest issues right now that we’re facing," said Eric Kraan of the group Sweet Streets. "I think the success of the Olympics really pivots in itself on the great opportunity — a second chance if you may call it that — to reinvent ourselves and how we move in the valley of Salt Lake."
Sweet Streets believes Utah should rely more on public transit and make it easy for future visitors.
"If we could actually set a goal of saying 80% of all the visitors that are coming to the Olympics at that time will find it convenient, better and easier and cheaper to actually take mass transit from the airport to their destinations all the way from Provo to Ogden and Kearns to Park City," Kraan said.
To pay for some of the transportation infrastructure improvements, Utah will actually rely on an infusion of federal dollars. The legislature will also budget for things like the I-15 expansion project.
