Little Cottonwood Canyon’s (LCC) proposed gondola may be held up in the courts, but Utah Department of Transportation’s (UDOT) cost calculations are under new scrutiny.

When UDOT announced in 2023 that a gondola up LCC was the “most cost-effective” way to solve canyon traffic, it was already on shaky ground. Two years later, new evidence makes it clear: UDOT’s math never worked, and in today’s economy it makes even less sense.

A 2025 published analysis by faculty and students in BYU’s Department of Civil and Construction Engineering exposed serious flaws in UDOT’s financial modeling. Among the mistakes: UDOT used an inappropriately low discount rate, cut the analysis period short, ignored major risks and failed to conduct proper scenario testing. Once corrected, the results flipped — e

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