Located between Center Street and 350 North in North Salt Lake City lies Main Street. This stretch of road runs through a residential neighborhood close to City Hall. It also touches up against Hatch Park, where many people utilize its tennis courts, gazebos, play structures and grassy open space to engage in outdoor recreation with their families. Main Street plays a fundamental role in the public being able to access these pieces of the community.

Unfortunately, Main Street has seen better days. The road has become littered with potholes, cracks and crumbling sidewalks. It becomes clear when driving on the bumpy and uneven road that Main Street needs to receive maintenance. Updating this vital part of the City is important for both the families that live alongside Main Street and the families that need to access City Hall or recreate at Hatch Park. 

Residents are excited for construction to begin. Kaylee Comstock, a resident of the area, who frequents Hatch park with her toddler expressed how the “sidewalks and the street are super bumpy” and how this has become an inconvenience due to her using a stroller to transport her child to and from Hatch Park. She sees the Main Street Reconstruction Project as an opportunity to improve her access to the park as smoother sidewalks would make it easier for her to push her child’s stroller on Main Street. 

The City Council and the City Public works department agree that it is time for an update on Main Street. 

The Main Street Reconstruction Project is set to begin this summer. Pre-construction work began the first week of May and construction will likely continue throughout the summer. However, the project may see some delays. Paul Ottoson, the city engineer, said “purchasing right-of-way took longer than anticipated and the design for [the project] is getting finished.” This means the City hopes the project will go up for bid by contractors in June. According to Ottoson, he is “unsure if the city will target a good price from the bidding process due to the time of year the bid is being placed.” If the city receives bids that are too high the project will not be awarded and will go back up for bidding in the winter. This may delay the project. 

Construction will include refurbishing the roadway by replacing the pavement, upgrading 10 pedestrian ramps, updating road signs and as Allison Adam, the Public Involvement Consultant for UDOT, explained “creating safer sidewalks.” Zach Whitney, UDOT’s Senior Communications Manager, stated that the updates to Main Street “will be done to increase the life of the road and accommodate future traffic through the center of town [and] enhance the safety of this street and make it accessible for all modes of transportation.”

The Main Street Reconstruction Project developed through a meeting with the Utah Department of Transportation and the City’s Public Works Department. The Main Street Reconstruction Project is funded through a federal grant. Due to the nature of this grant, UDOT will oversee the design of the project, not the city. Whitney estimates that construction will cost over $1.4 million dollars. 

The Main Street Reconstruction Project ties into a larger goal of the City updating roadways in order to benefit transportation and access.