Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Salt Lake City closed a Jordan River Parkway section due to cartel activity.
- Officials cite environmental degradation, safety concerns and illegal activities as closure reasons.
- The city plans improvements, including lighting and infrastructure, during the indefinite closure.
SALT LAKE CITY — A section of the Jordan River Parkway trail in Salt Lake City is closed over multiple issues along the route in the Fairpark neighborhood, officials announced Monday.
Salt Lake City officials said the popular trail will be closed indefinitely from Cottonwood Park (near 400 North) to 700 North over "a comprehensive initiative to address environmental degradation, infrastructure challenges and persistent public safety concerns" in the area.
"Sections of the Jordan River Parkway Trail are suffering from illegal activity, environmental degradation and infrastructure challenges that threaten the well-being of those who use and live near the trail," said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall.
The closure could last "several months" while the city works to "reclaim and revitalize public spaces," according to the city. Mendenhall said it will give the city enough time to make "much-needed improvements" that will make it safer for residents and trail users.
Police, along with teams from the Salt Lake City Mayor's Office and Department of Public Lands, plan to remove overgrown vegetation and debris from the area, restore damaged riverbanks and habitat, and install "improved" lighting and infrastructure during the closure. A section of the trail between 500 North and Backman Elementary will also be relocated to "improve visibility and safety," according to the city.
Trail users are encouraged to detour around the closure by taking:
- 800 North to Catherine Street
- Catherine Street to Leadville Avenue
- Leadville Avenue to 1400 West
- 1400 West to 500 North
- 500 North to Montgomery Street
- Montgomery Street to Chaz Court
- Chaz Court to the Jordan River Trail
Many people experiencing homelessness have set up camps along the riverbed, but Salt Lake City Councilwoman Victoria Petro — whose district includes the closure area — explained the issue has gone beyond that. The city, she said, believes "cartel activity" has infiltrated the area, pushing fentanyl and other drugs. Dealers are selling drugs not just to those experiencing homelessness, but buyers are coming from all over the valley.
This has also increased violent activity and other safety concerns that have left residents uneasy.
"At this point, this is not a homeless issue. The chaos caused by the homelessness crisis — the fact that we don't know who is safe to be in our neighborhood and who isn't — has created a kind of a chaotic system that now criminals are exploiting," Petro told KSL.com. "It's gotten to kind of a crisis point, where interventions that we haven't tried before need to be tried to protect sheltered and unsheltered alike."
Monday's announcement isn't the first of its kind. A section of the trail near the Utah State Fairpark — a few blocks south of Cottonwood Park — was closed for a few months last fall for similar reasons. Andrew Johnston, the city's director of homeless policy, said at the time that "a lot of illicit activity" was still happening in the area, which was a cause for concern as the Utah State Fair began, KSL NewsRadio reported in September 2024.
The situation is not unlike what led up to Operation Rio Grande near the Rio Grande Depot in 2017. Petro said the state-led effort was a "decent idea," but she believes the project was never properly completed. It may have led to the problems being pushed to other areas, like the Jordan River Parkway.
Some of that sparked concerns that led to the city's new public safety plan, which Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall unveiled in January. Her plan called for additional patrols along the trail, as well as in downtown Salt Lake City and the Ballpark neighborhood, along with a suite of public safety and homeless resource options that seek to solve gaps that led to issues.
The city also plans to conduct "targeted operations" within high-crime activity areas, while also deploying more public safety cameras and increasing community outreach in the area.
Petro said the City Council has already funded a new Jordan River "squad" that will help intervene with issues along the trail, but the team isn't expected to be ready to be deployed until this fall. The city could also look at similar closures to help reclaim areas where criminal activity has taken over, although she said it's an option she'd prefer not to frequently use because they take away shared public spaces.
"If I have my way, this will be different from Operation Rio Grande because we actually will finish building out the system," she said.
A few west-side residents sounded off on public safety issues in recent city meetings.
Angela Morgan, of nearby Rose Park, said issues along the trail from North Temple and 1000 North have been a "known continuing problem," when she addressed the City Council about her concerns last week. She believes city leaders haven't kept promises made every time issues are brought up.
She called on the city to enforce camping ordinances and overnight closure hours and increase lighting in some areas, among other things.
"Not only is it unsafe for the unsheltered, but it's also unsafe for those residents in Rose Park who desire to use the trail as a way to enjoy this once-beautiful part of nature," she said.
