SNOWBIRD, Utah — The Utah Department of Transportation has chosen an 8-mile-long gondola system as the way to serve the Snowbird and Alta ski resorts, ending a lengthy process that also included a cog railway among the options.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports UDOT made its final decision public on Wednesday, after releasing a preliminary plan in August 2022 that indicated the gondola was the preferred option to address longstanding congestion issues in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Traffic in the canyon can be a problem both in the winter to reach the ski areas and in the summer to access popular hiking areas.
The price to build the gondola is now estimated at $728 million, plus $4.4 million in annual operating costs. A bus system had also been considered; expanded bus service is planned while the gondola is built.
The gondola and cog railway were added to the options under consideration in 2020 [see “Digest: Utah considers cog railway …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 23, 2020]. At that time, the gondola was estimated to cost $398.2 million to $477.8 million, compared to $987 million for the railway. By the time of last year’s preliminary decision, the cog railway was estimated to cost $1.06 billion, compared to $550 million for the condola and as little as $335 million for buses.
Not funny Mr. McFarlane, and a little bigoted in my opinion…. There is no place here for intolerance of race, religion or creed. at least in the United States I know and love.
This gondola will never be built. For one, the people of the state are against it. Secondly and most importantly, the Legislature has not appropriated any money for it and several members have told the UDOT/UTA that if they want to build it they may have to take money away from other projects, That on its own may kill it. Thirdly, it is phase three of a 3 phase project and wouldn’t happen, if at all, for many years down the road… First phases involve better utilization of bus routes, bus equipment and operations, car pool incentives, etc. All multi modal plans to make the canyon (Narrow, avalanche prone and very steep) more environmentally friendly and accessible. The Gondola serves two entities: Snowbird and Alta Ski resorts. Most people think if they want it they should pay for it. I agree with the others that a modern cog railway like the Pikes Peak Cog Railway would be better and less of an impact than the large poles that are needed to hold the gondola car cables and will take away from the canyons spectacular beauty. They wouldn’t let the 2002 Olympics use the Little Cottonwood Canyon because of the impacts it would cause. Now Proponents are saying its okay… Go figure.
The access road is subject to avalanches, so an aerial gondola has advantages. There is limited parking at the ski areas, and along with the plan is to toll the road, should reduce traffic.
Apparently the UTa never seen or looked into how Switzerland gets skiers up into the mountains They use combinations of gondolas but also cog railroads a rack railroad and even trains that actually climb up the side of a mountain and operate through tuunels and deep mountain gorges . The Swiss certainly know how to conquer the mountains and have developed engineering marvels with their trains and railroads and that includes getting the skiers into the mountains especially the Alps. One more observation If the UTA can operate and expand bus service while the gondola is being built, why not operate and expand bus service on a permanent basis. Buses are the most cost effective and cheapest form of transit to operate and easy to discontinue if the service don’t meet expectations or ridership drops off.
Joseph C. Markfelder
Stoosbahn funicular railway is super modern and super cool!
Agreed.
A gondola isn’t going to reduce traffic by any significant amount, so it’s just throwing money away, but it’s the Mormon Church, sorry, I meant Utah State Government so actually preforming a traffic reduction service is irrelevant.