The city's Redevelopment Agency may work with Salt Lake County and the Utah Transit Authority to create a cultural tour via the TRAX line from The Gateway to the University of Utah.

"This isn't a tour with a guy with a microphone and an ID around his neck," says City Councilman Eric Jergensen, director of the RDA board, which is the council. "We try somehow, someway to bring together the different cultural venues in the city."

Patrons can use TRAX now to get around to the venues, he acknowledged, but the RDA could make it a "bigger deal." It's similar to how the RDA helped fund a historical walking tour on Main Street. A pamphlet highlights various buildings and their histories.

The RDA is being asked to put up to $50,000 toward either a study of the feasibility of such a tour or toward creating the program itself. Council members will decide Thursday night in a meeting that starts at 5:30 p.m. in Room 326 of the City-County Building, 451 S. State.

Jergensen says the goal is to get the various venues - from the Clark Planetarium and to-be-completed Children's Museum of Utah at The Gateway to the planned Leonardo at Library Square to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts at the University of Utah, along with points in between - to offer discounted ticket prices.

In a letter of support, Salt Lake Chamber President Lane Beattie suggests a shuttle could take visitors to the Emigration Visitors District, which includes Red Butte Garden, Hogle Zoo, This Is the Place Heritage Park and Fort Douglas Military Museum.

"The concentration of so many attractions along a single, convenient TRAX line presents a unique opportunity to encourage visitors to lengthen their stay, and a unique vehicle to increase visitation at some of our most important cultural and education venues," Beattie writes.

The RDA would need to coordinate with various venue owners, including Salt Lake County, the U. and possibly the state. Plus, several venues on the TRAX line haven't opened yet, including the Museum of Utah Art & History and the Leonardo.

Norm Chambers, the U.'s assistant vice president of auxiliary services, says he needs to talk to the leaders of the U.'s venues to gauge their interest. "It's certainly something I think our venues on campus would want to evaluate. We'd have to find out the details of exactly how it would work."

hmay@sltrib.com