Community-centered approach

The SLC West-East Connections Study takes a community-centered approach, ensuring those most affected by the divide define the challenges and help shape solutions. Study success depends on ongoing engagement and collaboration between the city, community, and partner agencies. A Community Advisory Board made up of westside residents and businesses, and an Arts Engagement Group with six local arts are helping guide the team throughout the process, with engagement opportunities to help develop a community-supported, unified plan by the end of 2026. Click the CAB Summary Reports drop down menu below to review meeting reports and activities.

Upcoming events

Thank you to everyone who attended our recent community events! We appreciate your participation at the Art Installation Celebration (Feb 5, 10 am) and our Community Open Houses at The Other Side Village (Feb 5, 5:30-7:30 pm) and Sorenson Unity Center (Feb 12, 5:30-7:30 pm). We’ll be back in August 2026 to share how your ideas have developed.

What we’ve heard from you

Phase one

Between May 2 and June 20, 2025, 1,051 community members shared their experiences with the West-East divide. The majority of participants live in Rose Park, Poplar Grove, and Glendale.

In late 2025, the WE Connect Community Advisory Board, five local artists, and the project team collaborated to develop new artwork that better represents the input you shared with us.

The four puzzle pieces represent the four major problem statements you—the Westside community—told us were caused by the physical divide between the west and east sides of Salt Lake City—travel choice, health and safety, community vibrancy, and access to opportunity. 

Phase two

Between January and March 2026, we asked westside community members to share ideas for solutions to the west-east divide that address the problems you identified in Phase 1. The team also asked for your preferences on ideas we’d heard during other City plans and studies, or those that you shared in Phase 1. In total, the team is now reviewing over 350 proposed solutions to address travel choice, health and safety, community vibrancy, and access to opportunity across the divide.

There are a wide range of ideas, from burying the train to adding bridges or tunnels; from expanding GREENbike stations, transit service, and active transportation infrastructure, to building more walkable commercial districts and essential westside amenities like a high school, hospital, fitness facilities, and childcare centers. Requests for more street lighting were also popular.

View the public engagement graphic in Spanish.

Read the full engagement summary report.

What’s next

Through early summer, the WE Connect team will be evaluating all of these ideas to see how they might be combined to address as many of the problem areas as possible, how costly they might be, and who might need to be involved to see them through to completion. We’ll come back to you in August 2026 to get community feedback on which of the proposed solutions you think best meet the community’s needs and should be prioritized for funding. Sign up for email updates so you can participate!