Parking is effortless. Biking and walking are safe. Bus routes are understandable. And transit options are so abundant you don't need a car once you're there.
For the next year, transportation planners will be drafting a 25-year plan with those goals in mind.
The impetus: Commuter rail will roll to downtown from Weber County in 2007 or 2008. The Utah Transit Authority hopes to build TRAX extensions to West Jordan-South Jordan, West Valley City, Draper and Salt Lake City International Airport by 2015. And UTA plans rapid bus transit through downtown at some point.
And this: $1.5 billion worth of investment is planned for downtown in the next five years - from the LDS Church's renovation of the two malls on Main Street to two new college campuses at the Triad Center and more housing near The Gateway.
So people started wondering, "Is the transportation adequate?" said Alice Steiner, a UTA consultant in charge of the downtown master plan.
The transit agency joined with Salt Lake City, the Utah Department of Transportation, the Salt Lake Chamber and the Downtown Alliance on the $600,000 study, which will cover all modes of transportation: automobiles, buses, TRAX, commuter rail, biking and walking. The study will cover North Temple to 900 South from 700 East to Interstate 15.
"Virtually all modes of transportation will be looked at," Ron Holmes, project manager with HNTB, told a group of business owners Wednesday to launch the plan.
The master plan will form recommendations on UTA's downtown free-fare zone - some believe it should extend to the Main Library.
There could be a bus-transfer station, separate from the transit hub at 300 South and 600 West that will combine commuter rail, TRAX, taxis, Greyhound buses and Amtrak.
Since Salt Lake City's blocks are famously large - and people are usually willing to walk only a quarter-mile, or two downtown blocks - there will be recommendations for a transit circulator. It could be by trolley, bus or light rail and would snake through downtown.
Other cities such as Denver do that. Free shuttles on that city's one-mile 16th Street Mall stop on every block, and the wait between rides is mere minutes.
Parking is a top complaint of Salt Lake City visitors, even though there are surface lots and parking garages throughout downtown. The problem is nearly all are privately owned and offer varying rates. Steiner wants to make parking less confusing.
The master plan could call for publicly owned garages or adding public stalls to private garages.
For pedestrians and bikers, there could be more midblock crosswalks and bike lanes.
With all the recommendations, planners will have to account for a possible high-occupancy vehicle off-ramp on 100 South and more light rail downtown as the spur to the Salt Lake City International Airport is built.
"We need a world-class transportation system in our city," chamber president Lane Beattie said.
hmay@sltrib.com
Transportation master plan goals
* Land-use vision: Transportation will be supportive of and compatible with the land-use goals and vision of downtown.
* Pedestrian friendly: Downtown will be pedestrian-friendly with walking as the primary mode of transportation.
* Easy to use: All transportation forms will be easy to use and understand.
* Enhanced transit accessibility and mobility: All transit resources will be used to enhance regional accessibility to downtown and mobility within downtown.
* Balanced automobile use: Salt Lake City will address auto use to limit congestion in ways that are compatible with the other goals and objectives for downtown.
