Individual Post:Jordan Parkway

The Jordan River Parkway Trail is a public pathway that runs from Utah Lake, through Salt Lake County and up into Davis County. It is will be 40 miles long in length when the entire trail is completed. Right now the longest stretch is 14 miles long from Sandy City to 200 north. For our second walkabout we analyzed the trail.

The most effective way to travel on the trail is by bike. We all squeezed into the trax train with all of our bikes and departed on our journey. We go off at the courthouse stop and embarked on our

journey. We knew the general area of the trailhead, but we were not entirely sure exactly where it was. After passing it once we found the trailhead and started on the parkway.

I was surprised to see that the surrounding neighborhoods were lower class homes. There was graffiti throughout the trail. The trail went through the west side of town. In parts of it there were trailer parks on the side of the trail. We even saw a grocery cart partly submerged in the river. I was surprised to see a park along the trail that had

different landmarks of countries. For example Switzerland had a model of a mountain and Greece had a structure resembling the Pantheon. It was shocking going form the lower class area into this nice park. The park was very empty and I since I had never heard of it before I can see why.

I have ridden on the park by my house in Sandy. I was surprised to see the differences. The trail was better maintained

and the surrounding neighborhoods were upper middle class. Since the parkway is 40 miles, a wide diversity of areas is covered throughout Salt Lake.

The people we saw were mostly families, specifically Hispanic families having picnics on the park or kids biking on the path. The path encouraged people to bike or jog on the path. It could be used as a way to get from one place to another or solely as a location

for exercise and leisure. The path encouraged large amounts of people to be on the path. There was plenty of room to pass other people. There was no limit on what social class could use the trail. It depended on your location. The west side had the same access to the trail as the wealthier east side. Anyone could walk along the path. It was free to enter on the parkway.

The parkway used Kevin Lynch’s element of the city of the path. The path is how people travel in the city. The Jordan Parkway is used for transportation and commuting because people can travel long distances while avoiding busy streets. The parkway is used for much more than transportation. It is used for recreation, leisure, family get together, and for parks for kids to play in.

The parkway was an interesting experience. The stark contrast in the different areas was shocking to me. There would be major differences in the surrounding areas mile to mile. The walkabout helped me to understand the diversity of Salt Lake City.