Olympic traffic won a gold medal

Scott Nelson

3/18/2002

One month ago Salt Lake City was right in the middle of the 2002 Winter Olympics -- one of the largest sporting events in the world, with 160 Countries televising the games. There were 3,500 athletes and officials participating in the 2002 games. These athletes had trained for many years to get their moment in the sun, with the world as their audience.

Several years before the 2002 Olympics arrived in Salt Lake City, planning for traffic took place. Utah Department of Transportation authorities made calculations and looked at roads that would have to handle heavy traffic. Even before the closing ceremonies commenced on Feb. 24, some were saying these were the best Olympic Winter Games in history.

Part of the success could be attributed to the traffic coordination that helped make things run so smoothly. The last thing Utahns wanted was the world to see traffic backed up. Things could have been disastrous if spectators missed competition or athletes arrived late due to the horrendous traffic.

There were an estimated 174,000 daily spectators for 140 ticketed events at 10 competition venues spread from Ogden to Provo and Kearns to Heber City. The travel in and around northern Utah could have rivaled the worst traffic in any major city in the United States. UDOT’s slogan was to “know before you go” and that’s just what Utahns did during the games. Rex Marler, who works at the Merrill Lynch building in Salt Lake City, has ridden TRAX ever since it opened. “They had the trains running every 7 minutes,” Marler said. “My work told us to come in no later than 7 a.m. and be out of there by 3 p.m.”

Stipulations like this helped the traffic by keeping fewer people in the city when competition was taking place. Some said downtown didn’t look like the typical Salt Lake City it was transformed; it looked like a much bigger city with all the lights, crowds of people, huge banners, concerts, Bud World and many displays. This big city atmosphere was due in part to all of the Busses, shuttles, vans, Suv’s and Olympic vehicles that were downtown moving the people.

Andy Cunningham of Holiday worked at the medals plaza during the 17 days and rode a bus in from Sugarhouse Park. “Things were a breeze, we were downtown in 15 minutes,” Cunningham said. TRAX officials had stated that the best transportation option for many people traveling downtown for Olympic events was to catch a shuttle bus from one of several park-and-ride lots in the Salt Lake Valley. Most Utahns used alternate methods of transportation during the games.

SLOC issued several transportation guides that gave estimated destination times from several locations in the valley to Olympic venues. Olympic ticket holders were sent a large Spectator's Guide to the Games. This guide was mailed to ticket holders either in October or November. Local papers also had sections dedicated to Olympic travel information. KSL Television and radio had time set aside to give traffic updates to Olympic venues.

In most cases, the traffic during the games was very well planned and the bottle necking was held to a minimum. Larry Palmer actually drove downtown to do some shopping during the Olympics. “I drove downtown during the day time and went to the mall and parked with no problems,” Palmer said.

It was a group effort during the 17 days that the Olympics were in Salt Lake City. Utahns apparently can be proud of the show that was the 2002 Winter Games. Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee was pleased with Salt Lake City at the closing ceremonies, "People of America, Utah and Salt Lake City, you have given the world superb Games. You have reassured us that people from all countries can live peacefully together. Thank-you! Thank-you!”