2100 South — a road in the Sugar House neighborhood stretching from State Street to the east bench around 2100 East — has been the topic of complaints from businesses and civilians, comments, traffic requests and tweets due to the road’s potholes, tight lanes and heavy traffic.
City analysts and engineers have an introductory plan for a 2025 project to rebuild a portion of 2100 South, from 700 East to 1300 East.
Gage Meletiche, a manager at Blick Art Supplies, located at 1025 E. 2100 South, said of the road, “I mean, it’s just bad. There’s holes everywhere.”
Meletiche also said there seems to be too much traffic for such a small road with few left-turning lanes, making it a dangerous place to drive.
“People are just parked in the middle of the road, trying to cross,” he said. “I see people get hit all of the time, there are always car accidents on the road.”
Salt Lake City’s most recent pavement analysis from 2017 revealed that “nearly two-thirds of Salt Lake City streets are in poor or worse condition,” with many of these streets being in such poor condition that they need to be entirely rebuilt.
Leah Smith, civic engagement specialist with Salt Lake City’s engineering team, said her team is aware of the pavement damage and road stress, but added that the road’s traffic cannot be completely credited to the recent development in the area.
“We — meaning the city — have been keeping metrics in the area, and despite the fact that both the city and the Sugar House area has grown significantly, traffic volume has only increased 1.5 percent,” she said.
That figure, Smith said, coupled with the nine percent increase in sales activity in the Sugar House area, means people are still using the area.
“But they might be going different ways, parking somewhere or taking transit, or just walking. Which is good, we like that,” she said, adding that traffic has not grown at the same rate city development has.
Still, Smith acknowledged that the road does need repairs.
“We do know that the portion of 2100 South [from 700 East to 1300 East] needs to be rebuilt, and that’s why it is on our project plan,” she said.
what is the worst street in salt lake city and why is it 2100 south
— bri (@soymilkshawty) November 20, 2021
The plan for the section of road in question is in its very early stages of implementation. Starting this year, the transportation department will conduct a study to evaluate the roadway, its traffic patterns and how the road is currently being used. From there, they will incorporate a design into their transportation master plan.
“It needs to meet our ordinances, and we will have to see how we can meet the needs of it presently, but also ten or twenty years from now,” Smith said.
Once the plan goes through its design stages within the transportation department, it will be proposed to the public for opinion and then handed over to engineers for construction.
The rebuilding of the road will be paid for by a voter-approved bond passed in 2018 called the “Funding our Future Bond,” which, Smith added, will also fund other local street projects like 300 West.
Smith said outreach will begin in 2023, using feedback from the community and businesses in the area, saying, “There will be consistent communication with the community” during the project’s planning.
Construction of the 2100 South repair project is set to begin in 2025. In the meantime, Smith offered advice to drivers in the area.
“Be patient, follow all traffic laws, obviously,” she said. “We do recognize that this area has a lot of room to improve so we are trying to make the road as safe as possible for cars, bikes and public transportation. We want it to be usable for every type of user.”
