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Saying residents no longer feel safe, Salt Lake City moved Tuesday to close a portion of the Jordan River Trail to revitalize its public spaces and clamp down on drug trafficking and other crime. The trail shutdown between Cottonwood Park and 700 North — expected to last several months — is part of a wider initiative as officials aim to reduce environmental degradation as well as better address vagrancy and rampant drug dealing that have elevated public safety worries among neighbors and trail users. It’s time to significantly step up enforcement , said Andrew Wright, deputy chief with the Salt Lake City Police Department , in an area that had become a “hotbed” of criminal activity.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Trash, clothing and backpacks float in the Jordan River near Cottonwood Park. “This temporary closure gives us the chance,” Wright said, “to fix a broken system, to clear sight lines, improve lighting and eliminate the dark corners where crime can thrive.” The trail closure, he said, would be accompanied by police aggressively targeting illegal drug sales, gang activity and violent offenders who are exploiting vulnerable folks experiencing homelessness in encampments along the path.
“This is not about displacement,” Wright said. “This is about criminal disruption and accountability.” Tuesday’s announcement drew a hearty welcome from Salt Lake City Council member Victoria Petro , who told her constituents it came in direct response to public safety concerns “that have been unsuccessfully addressed through any other means.
” “I know that closing public spaces is never the ideal course for addressing problems,” Petro said in a special message to her west-side District 1 residents, “but the situation has escalated to a point where this adjustment will best serve the safety of all people — sheltered and unsheltered.” She asked for patience “while we work through the dueling crises of homelessness and criminality.” (Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Encampments are plentiful along the banks of the Jordan River near Cottonwood Park.
The Jordan River is a focus of Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s latest public safety plan , released in mid-January, and police have reported a series of encampment cleanups, arrests and substantial drug seizures along the corridor since then, particularly involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The city’s segment of the river, the downtown area and the Ballpark neighborhood have all been targeted for additional patrols, investigations aimed at high crime areas, new surveillance cameras and boosted community outreach aimed at the unsheltered. Wright also vowed that police would follow illegal doings in other parts of the city, if it appeared this latest crackdown was simply shifting criminal activity elsewhere instead of quelling it.
“We’re going to be on top of it,” he said, “but, again, while we maintain safety in other parts of the city.” A segment of the trail shut down near 1000 North and Cornell Street starting in 2020 for a paving, realignment and water infrastructure project designed to improve the Jordan River watershed. More recently, other trail portions have seen regular camp cleanups and environmental remediations as Utah’s capital continues to cope with a rise in the numbers of unsheltered residents amid a desperate affordable housing shortage .
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Used needles and trash along the banks of the Jordan River near Cottonwood Park. While this latest section is closed, crews with the city’s Public Lands Department also plan a series of major trail improvements, including an overhaul of damaged riverbanks and habitat along the riparian corridor as well as removal of overgrown vegetation and debris. New lighting, open spaces, scores of garbage cans and other amenities will also go in as part of some $11 million in upgrades to the wider Jordan River Trail funded by the city’s $80 million parks bond, passed in 2022.
The wider goal, according to Tyler Murdock, deputy director of the city’s Public Lands Department , “is to improve safety, activation and amenities along the entire 9-mile section of the Jordan River.” Initial phases, Murdock said, began this week with work to create a new nature playground and open spaces along the river near Backman Elementary School, 601 N. 1500 West.
Crews also plan to relocate a nearby quarter-mile stretch of the trail between 500 North and Backman from the east side of the Jordan to the west, he said, in a bid to improve sight lines, make the corridor safer and improve environmental conditions. That, said Murdock, is anticipated to be completed later this summer. Petro, in her message to residents, urged pedestrians and cyclists hoping to use the trail during this latest closure to find alternative routes on 500 North, 1400 West and 800 North.
The city has published a recommended detour map to get around the closure. It is unclear, meanwhile, just when the temporarily closed portion of the trail might reopen..
