SALT LAKE CITY — Utah transportation officials say they may have figured out how to build a pedestrian plaza outside of the Delta Center without severely impacting a key roadway that runs alongside the arena.
The project remains in its “infancy stages,” but Utah Department of Transportation engineers have zeroed in on a plan that would lower 300 West by approximately 10 feet between South Temple and 100 South. At the same time, a section of Smith Entertainment Group’s proposed plaza over the roadway would be raised the same amount above the road, said Robert Stewart, director of UDOT Region 2. This would create about a 20-foot clearance, allowing people to cross 300 West freely while traffic flows underneath.
That’s important because the plaza — an element of the “sports, entertainment, culture and convention district” that the Utah Jazz and Mammoth owner proposed last year — seeks to address transportation alternatives as downtown grows in population and visitation. Meanwhile, Stewart points out 300 West is a “critical road,” serving as a portion of U.S. 89 in the area — the reason why UDOT owns the road instead of the city…