Rail to Creek & Trail.City Creek at Folsom Trail will revitalize a former rail corridor into a thriving ecosystem and community connection. It will create a beautiful, safe, and welcoming community centerpiece with more access to nature, improved water quality, and mitigated surface area flooding.
Partners:
Daylighting is the uncovering of a stream previously buried in a pipe.
THE DESIGN PLAN.The Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City, in partnership with the Seven Canyons Trust, is developing the City Creek at Folsom Trail Daylighting Design Plan—a community-based vision for the City Creek channel and additional improvements along the Folsom Trail between approximately 700 West and 1000 West in Salt Lake City. It follows the City Creek Daylighting Feasibility Study published in June 2020. This study identified two concepts for the daylighting of City Creek along the Folsom Trail, both of which originate at a detention basin to be located on City-owned property at 39 South 800 West. The first concept will be used, which features an eight-foot-wide partial-flow stream channel. A collaborative team of Salt Lake City departments deemed this concept to be most feasible.
The findings of the City Creek Daylighting Feasibility Study are the starting point for the next phase, the design of a stream channel for City Creek’s flow along the Folsom Trail. The team will collect additional data to support development of a detailed conceptual design and 40-percent level design development drawings for the creek and additional improvements. The final design plan will include the background and existing conditions, benefits and risks, community outreach and feedback, design, cost estimates, potential funding sources, and a future maintenance plan. Click here to view the design.
The trail.The Folsom Trail is an off-street, paved trail located at approximately 50 South (between South Temple and 100 South), between the North Temple Frontrunner Station and the Jordan River in Salt Lake City. West of Interstate-15, the trail follows a former railroad right-of-way. The current phase of the Folsom Trail, including installation of the paved trail, lighting, crossings, and some site furniture, was completed in December 2021.
The Timeline.-
Dates: July-October 2022
The current conditions and technical analysis create the foundation for the City Creek at Folsom Trail Daylighting Design Plan. An online and intercept survey will engage neighborhood residents and businesses to collect trail usage, improvement preference, and project concerns. The Existing Conditions & Technical Analysis Report will summarize the findings of previous reports and plans, report additional data that was collected, and identify feasible channel design alternatives.
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Dates: September 2022-April 2023
Public and stakeholder engagement provides the structure for the City Creek at Folsom Trail Daylighting Design Plan. Creative community engagement strategies will be key to ensuring equity in outreach and gathering the public’s thoughts, ideas, and visions for the future City Creek at Folsom Trail. The public will provide feedback on preferred design and visual preference of desired amenities. Three Stakeholders Forums will engage stakeholders and technical experts in three categories: Water, Community, and Recreation. The Engagement Report will summarize the results of all engagement opportunities and key takeaways from each phase.
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Dates: March-August 2023
The City Creek at Folsom Trail Daylighting Design Plan will be informed by the previous two phases. A walk and open house will gather feedback on the preferred design. The final design plan will include 40-percent level design development drawings, background, existing conditions, technical analysis, data, benefits, risks, community outreach, designs, cost estimates, funding sources, and a maintenance plan. A community celebration will commemorate the final plan and share next steps.
The Team.-
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Project Management Group
Salt Lake City Public Lands
Tom Millar
Salt Lake City Public Utilities
Michael Guymon
Jason Draper
Holly Lopez
Salt Lake City Planning
Rylee Hall
Salt Lake City Transportation
Will Becker
University of Utah
Jenn Shah
Utah State University
Ryan Dupont
Community Members
Victoria Karpos
Paulo Aguilera
THe Mural.The Folsom Trail Mural Project seeks an artist or artist-led team to create an outdoor mural along the blank wall at 25 S 1000 W, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. The artwork is intended to beautify the Folsom Trail corridor, represent the Euclid/Poplar Grove neighborhood, and acknowledge City Creek. It will complement engagement efforts on the Folsom Trail City Creek Daylighting Design Plan and build support for future implementation of the design.
THE HISTORY.Daylighting City Creek through downtown Salt Lake City was first highlighted in the 1965 Second Century Plan. The 1992 Salt Lake City Open Space Plan suggested a daylighting route that would flow from Memory Grove, through the downtown core, into what would become The Gateway, and finally through a rail corridor on its way to the Jordan River. This rail corridor, the Folsom line, gathered momentum in the early 2000s as a potential location for transformation into a future trail and creek corridor.
The Folsom rail line was rerouted as part of the Grants Tower/West Side Railroad Realignment project in 2008. The Interstate-15 overpass and renewed use of rail lines adjacent to the Folsom Corridor inhibit east-west connectivity, cutting off communities and creating dangerous encounters between people, cars, and trains. In 2011, an overflow culvert known as the Folsom Drain was placed down the corridor, beginning around 550 W North Temple and discharging into the Jordan River, to mitigate flooding.
Other Master Planning Efforts:
North Temple Boulevard Plan (2010)
Westside Master Plan (2014)
Downtown Plan (2016)