Folsom Trail: GO Bond Project
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Project Description
More than 10 years in the making, the Folsom Trail is a 10-foot off-street, paved path between 500 West and 1000 West designed to be safe and accessible for all ages and abilities. It has helped to bridge east-west connections in Salt Lake City, becoming a vital connector for our neighborhoods and our businesses.
In 2021, the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency (RDA) sought an architectural partner to develop a conceptual design and feasibility study for the daylighting of City Creek in the Folsom Corridor.
The Folsom corridor, which once housed a railroad line, is now home to an underground, 4’ x 12’ box culvert called the Folsom Drain Line. The RDA facilitated the process of evaluating existing conditions, creating a public engagement plan to form a public vision, and developing iterative site designs, ultimately to leading to a final concept design for the daylighting of City Creek.
In November 2022, the Folsom Trail corridor was selected to receive $5 million in funding from the Parks, Trails, & Open Space General Obligation Bond (GO Bond). The funding has two purposes: the first is to add irrigation and landscaping to the existing trail (everything east of 1000 West), and the second purpose is to extend the trail from 1000 West to the Jordan River and the Fisher Mansion.
Note: Future phases may connect the trail to the river, will continue to study and design a potential City Creek daylighting north of the trail, and will overall seek to improve the vitality of the corridor. The City Creek Daylighting future phases are not currently funded.
Project Details
Project Location
Trail connection between the Jordan River and 500 West/North Temple FrontRunner Station
Landscaping/Irrigation (East of 1000 West) Project Manager
Ronnie Pessetto
ronnie.pessetto@slc.gov
Trail Extension (West of 1000 West) Project Manager
Kira Johnson
kira.johnson@slcgov.com
Project Status
Active
Community Engagement
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Project Updates
Current Project Phase
Designs for landscaping and irrigation improvements are underway.
Property aquisition/easement conversations to connect the trail west of 1000 West to the Jordan River Trail are underway.
Previous Project Phase
The first phase of the Folsom Trail, completed in June 2022, included the 10′ wide concrete trail for walking and bicycling, 26 bollard and 10 pedestrian pole lights, trail delineation, street crossing improvements, and some site furniture (benches, trash cans). Other than seeding and restoring landscaping where it exists, that phase did not include landscaping (plants, trees, crushed stone) or irrigation.
Other Updates and Resources
Future phases of improvements to the Folsom Corridor outside of the Public Lands Department’s purview will explore options for encouraging redevelopment, expanding the focus on green space, ecological improvements, and water quality.
The City studied the feasibility of creating a small stream channel, or “daylighting” using the excess City Creek runoff currently in the Folsom Drain. Read the June 2020 final report of the feasibility study by clicking the link below. Currently, the City is exploring a design master plan for the daylighting.
Project Background
The concept of an east-west trail from Downtown to the Jordan River Trail dates back more than two decades and is found in five adopted master plans, including:
The Downtown Community Master Plan (2016)
The Westside Master Plan (2014) – link opens PDF
The Pedestrian & Bicycle Master Plan (2015)
The Open Space Master Plan (1992) – link opens PDF
North Temple Boulevard Plan (2010) – link opens PDF
Additional Information
Funding Status
Most recently, the Folsom Trail corridor was selected to receive up to $5 million in funding from the Parks, Trails, & Open Space General Obligation Bond (GO Bond), approved in November 2022, for Phase 2 improvements (landscaping, irrigation, and trail completion to the Jordan River).
In 2015, the Salt Lake City Transportation Division applied for and received Capital Improvement Projects funding to begin design of a paved, multi-use pathway along the route of the former Folsom rail line.
In 2016, the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) of Salt Lake City requested funding to assist in design and construction of the trail and greenspace amenities in the Depot District, an RDA project area.
The City Council awarded Parks Impact Fees to the project to assist in the development of a greenway corridor.
The Folsom Trail was included in a regional application submitted by the Utah Transit Authority for federal assistance in creating First-Mile and Last-Mile active transportation connections to transit. The grant application was successful, and the project has been fully funded as part of the grant as of early 2017. The money previously allocated by Salt Lake City for this project will go towards the required local match for the grant.
In the Mayor’s recommended fiscal year 2019-2020 budget, $2.1 million were proposed for urban trails, nearly $1.1 million of which was intended for the Folsom Trail. In 2020, the SLC RDA approved nearly $350,000 in funding from several sources to enhance the lighting and landscaping of the Folsom Corridor.
Recent Public Input
In the spring of 2020, 1,053 residents and businesses told the City how to prioritize funding for lighting, landscaping, and other decorative elements. They wanted:
- Enough lighting to feel safe but not too much, with overhead lighting at intersections and smaller bollard lights in between.
- Landscaping and decorative elements that softened the industrial feeling of the area.
- Investment in places to sit, native plants, and decorative gravel at intersections.
With a limited budget, the City has tried to implement as many of these improvements as possible in this first phase, but will implement more in the second.
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