Why Should U Care About The Gondola?

Why Should U Care About The Gondola

Why Should U Care About The Gondola is an event put on by the University of Utah Honors Class: Art, Action, & the Environment taught by Wendy Wischer, Associate Professor of Sculpture Intermedia, at the University of Utah. This diverse team of students- with disciplines including Archaeology, Biology, Business, Chemical Engineering, and Geography- have been exploring the intersection between the arts and environmental action and they chose to bring awareness to their campus community about the Little Cottonwood Canyon Gondola Project in an engaging and creative way. This event is meant to bring a broader awareness about the proposed gondola as well as protest it, in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. 

For their final project, they will be presenting a socially engaged art event centered around protesting the Gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The project will target university students, staff and faculty. The proposed Gondola project in Little Cottonwood was initially proposed by UDOT as a result of a lengthy traffic survey in the canyon to help decrease traffic. It would consist of about 22 towers, two turn stations, and a stop at Snowbird, and Alta resort, to deposit skiers. After a lengthy review process, feedback from the public, and multiple surveys of the canyon, UDOT landed on the Gondola as their final solution to decrease traffic in Little Cottonwood Canyon. However, the proposed project is not supported by the community and would be about 8 miles long, the longest Gondola in the world if it were built, and is expected to cost about $1.5 billion dollars. UDOT plans to obtain this funding via the Utah Legislature, through tax payer dollars. This socially engaged project is a protest to the funding, and construction of the Gondola, bring awareness of the negative impact it would have on the environment, and the wrongful use of tax dollars. It will also encourage cheaper, and more environmentally, friendly alternatives, such as funding for electric buses.