Meanwhile, the median household income in Salt Lake City in 2021 was $65,880, while 14.7% of residents lived in poverty, compared to the national rate of 11.6%. Utah ski visitors spent $2.35 billion in the 2021/2022 season. But the gondola isn’t a commercial development: It’s a state transportation project with mandatory fees, like the gondola ticket or a road toll, that would weigh heavier on locals than tourists. Tourist-centered development isn’t anything new: It’s happening in mountain towns across the West as residents and employees are priced out of housing while vacation rentals and second homes thrive. “After seven years of living in Utah and coming here for access, I find myself questioning if it’s really worth this stress.” The proposed fix? An 8-mile-long gondola - the longest in the world - that would run from the base of the canyon straight to the doors of two ski areas, Alta and Snowbird, delivering 1,000 passengers per hour. In response, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has attempted to find a traffic solution to accommodate peak season in Little Cottonwood Canyon. “Five or six years ago, it would take me 30 to 40 minutes, but people weren’t lining up for miles and miles and miles to enter the canyon,” says Lucy Mower, a Salt Lake City resident. The 2021-2022 season in Utah broke records for skier visitation at 5.8 million visitors, according to a report by the Kem C. Ski tourism is on the rise in the state, and the congestion is just getting worse. “When you’re only making $17 an hour, an unpredictable commute is insufferable,” said Fleming. That day, Fleming’s 15-mile, unpaid commute took an hour and a half. Adam Fleming, an employee at a local ski area, met his fellow liftees at the Park & Ride overflow lot, which was already full, and climbed into a van to join the hundreds of cars sitting bumper to bumper, inching their way across intersections and into the mouth of the canyon. on a recent powder day, the notorious “red snake” - the locals’ not-so-affectionate name for the winding line of vehicle taillights - formed at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon in Utah, extending for miles down Wasatch Boulevard towards Salt Lake City.
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