Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation President and CEO Colin Hilton sees 2034 as a catalyst to improve the quality of life at home.
“What we're mostly encouraging our community and local government partners to do right now is to think of the things that will really improve everyday needs in the community, and use the Games as ‘a date certain’ in the future to really allow these visioning ideas to be acted on and have a deadline,” he said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Feb. 19.
Speaking with KPCW from the Milan Cortina Games in Italy, Hilton said Utah is planning infrastructure improvements like expanding public transit ahead of the Games.
In 2002, the state used large park-and-rides. In 2034, buses will still play a key role.
“We're actually looking at really even improved public transit systems that would allow our Salt Lake-based spectators to take a bus system, rather than driving up to the park-and-ride lots,” Hilton said.
He and the rest of Utah’s Olympic delegation have been consulting with their various counterparts around Milan and Cortina.
One of the big differences between Utah and Italy is how spread out venues are this year. Utah will have most of its events within an hour’s drive of Salt Lake City.
“Livigno had just a wonderful setup of a cluster of five venues and one common area in walking distance to their downtown,” Hilton observed. “Which obviously is similar to what we have here in Park City, with Snow Park Lodge and the mountain base center for Park City and Main Street.”
Like Italy, Utah hosts World Cup events at venues like the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center and Deer Valley Resort. It’s a natural fit to re-use those spaces for Nordic and freestyle events.
Hilton said the plan is to have slopestyle, halfpipe, ski and snowboard cross events at Park City Mountain. The resort previously hosted some Alpine events, but those will be at Snowbasin in 2034.
According to Hilton, 2034 will feature 40% more events than the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, including recent additions like ski mountaineering and dual moguls.
The Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation is a financial supporter of KPCW.
