Source: “Home.” The Gondola Works, https://gondolaworks.com/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2025.
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The growth in the Salt Lake Valley has brought along with it increased mountain recreation, particularly in beautiful Little Cottonwood Canyon. The year-round transit challenge is the result of avalanches, landslides, and auto and bus traffic. Doing nothing keeps us on the same unsustainable trajectory we’ve been on for decades. With UDOT’s proposed zero emission, high-capacity, sustainable gondola, now is our chance to solve the congestion that exists now and preserve Little Cottonwood’s mountain access for the future.
CHEAPEST OPTION
- $521 million gondola & base station
- $7.7 million year-round operation & maintenance
- Public/private funding opportunities
CLEAN & QUIET
- Carbon neutral, electric system doesn’t impact Wasatch Front air quality
- Gondola cars generate electricity for in-cabin functions
- Nearly silent cable system maintains natural experience
SAFE & RELIABLE
- Provides secondary route in/out of canyon in emergency
- Withstands winds up to 60 mph
- Eliminates need for road travel in inclement weather
- Reliable transportation for canyon workforce
ACCESS FOR EVERYONE
- Year-round access for all Utah families, not just high-impact users
- Increased access for those with mobility challenges or disabilities
- Flexibility to increase and/or decrease capacity in canyon real-time
WATERSHED & WILDLIFE
- Protects watershed, habitat, wildlife movement
- Only 2 acres of canyon land impacted
- Requires 22 towers with minimum concrete, pavement & construction impact
NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION
- Long-term system that protects canyon for next generation
- World-class cities are building gondolas as clean, efficient transportation system
- Enhances canyon visitor experience
The Utah Taxpayers Association supports the gondola as “the most taxpayer-friendly solution of the alternatives”
ONDOLA SYSTEM
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22 towers along 8-mile route
- Adding 23rd tower would bring average height to 169 feet
- Tricable car system allows for greater tower spacing
- Cabin can arrive every 30 seconds
- 37 minutes from base station to Alta
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Transport capacity of up to 4,000 passengers/hour
- Transport people and supplies
- 32 seats per cabin
- In-cabin Wi-fi, electricity
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Proposed base station includes:
- Passenger drop off
- Bus lanes
- Below-road grade parking structure with 2,500 stalls
- Lockers & amenities
The gathering places at Snowbird and Alta are accessed by the public year-round. A vehicle count study by Streetlight Data shows 84% of the daily average vehicle count heading into Little Cottonwood Canyon from May-October end up at Alta and Snowbird.
WHY NOT BUSES?
Roads are not the future of our transportation troubles in the canyon, and buses perpetuate the problems we face now. Buses are NOT an environmentally-responsible, practical solution to gridlock. UTA has stated they can remove a maximum of 30% vehicular traffic only with clear weather conditions, dedicated bus lanes, and dedicated annual funding. Buses require widening the road which means blasting apart the canyon and permanently destroying at least 50 acres of wilderness. To serve the current population, the number of canyon buses would increase by 320%, all spewing diesel exhaust into the air and resulting in a bus passing each other every 75 seconds! If just one of those buses gets stuck – nobody is getting through. The cost to taxpayers to operate a bus system five months out of the year is MORE than what it takes to run the operations of the gondola all year long.
Roads are NOT the answer.
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