SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — People are going to flock to Salt Lake City on Saturday for a few massive events, and city officials and UDOT are preparing to keep people safe among the influx of crowds and traffic.
“We’re looking at about 110 to 120,000 people that are getting down to Salt Lake City. That’s gonna be a lot of extra traffic,” Public relations director for UDOT John Gleason told ABC4.
Three major events are going to draw that crowd. Post Malone will be performing at the RedWest Festival at the State Fairpark, which is expected to draw around 40,000 attendees. The University of Utah has a home football game, with an expected 55,000 attendees, and Benson Boone is performing at the Delta Center, with around 18,000 attendees.
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“Salt Lake City has a project right now on 400 South, which is usually the main way that you would use to get around these downtown events, but you’re not going to see as much traffic be able to get through there,” Gleason said.
Instead, UDOT is recommending that people use 600 South or 600 North as alternate routes to try to avoid that congestion.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall posted to social media about how the city is preparing ahead of this busy weekend. She advised anyone planning on going out this weekend to give yourself a little extra time to get to and from your destinations due to the expected crowds. The city is also taking measures to prepare for rain this weekend.
“This is the perfect storm because you’ve got three major events, and then you’ve got weather moving in on top of that,” Gleason added. Drivers should expect the normal congestion, but road conditions could be worse than expected because of weather conditions.
Everyone ABC4 spoke to recommended drivers give themselves extra time to get to their destinations on Saturday.
Detective Greg Lovell with the Salt Lake City Police Department encouraged everyone to pay attention to their surroundings and not to be afraid to call the police if they see something that seems out of place. He also encouraged everyone to be patient with other drivers, something Gleason also echoed.
“Hopefully we can get everyone where they’re going as conveniently as possible and as safely as possible,” Gleason said.
As for safety with these large crowds of people, Lovell said that Salt Lake City Police officers will be at each of these events. “Any time you get these numbers of people together, the Salt Lake City Police Department wants to staff the event sufficient enough to keep everyone safe and help everyone have a good time,” he said.
Lovell added that while public safety may be more on the minds of the public now following the shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, it’s something that police are always thinking about, and they are always looking for ways to improve safety and security at large events.
“It’s not a new thing for us to have this many events all together,” Lovell said. “The public can rest assured that we’re doing a good job working hard to keep the public safe.”
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