Transportation alternatives for little cottonwood canyon and their operational implications

Beginning in 2017, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has worked on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which provides transportation improvement alternatives for the heavy congestion that takes place in Little Cottonwood Canyon and feeder streets during the winter ski season. UDOT has narrowed in on two suggested alternatives that are currently being debated further by UDOT: the Enhanced Bus Service in Peak-Period Shoulder Lane and the Gondola Alternative B (base station from La Caille). The draft EIS has four volumes with hundreds of pages each, discussing the alternatives and their implications. While UDOT did produce 1-page fact sheets of the chosen alternatives, they are very brief and do not provide thorough understanding of the options. This document is aimed to provide a middle ground between the lengthy four volumes and the brief fact sheets. I hope it will serve as a resource for community members interested in learning more about the transportation proposal, but who do not have the ability or bandwidth to filter through hundreds of pages of material. Implementing either alternative will be a massive undertaking. Many operational aspects need further consideration before implementation, or even before selection between the two options. This work will present these basic operational issues and several suggestions that could and should be analyzed in further detail. While considerations need to be taken for summer usage of the canyon, this work will solely focus on wintertime analysis.