University of Utah students plan for brighter downtown

SALT LAKE CITY  (Deseret News) — Salt Lake City's many alleyways and side streets are sometimes dark, dank and less than inviting. But a group of students from the University of Utah hope to change that.

"Right now, the alleys and side streets are underutilized city assets," said J.P. Goates, a U. planning student. "The thoroughfares between city blocks exist but are unwelcoming and unfriendly to pedestrians."

After consulting a map of the city, students from the U.'s College of Architecture and Planning found an extensive network of interconnected public spaces that could be put to better use and add to the quality of city life. They presented their plans to city planners and members of the Downtown Alliance and Salt Lake Redevelopment Agency on Tuesday.

"It is a great conceptual leap forward," said Downtown Alliance Executive Director Jason Mathis. He said the U. student plan is his first exposure to such an idea locally, but that other cities, like Chicago, have successfully pulled it off, "turning under-appreciated spaces into amenities."

In the long-term, Mathis said, it might behoove Salt Lake to initiate some test areas, perhaps near Exchange Place – already landscaped, pedestrian-friendly spots – where development has already started.

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