Skybridges Kill Streetlife

"Kathleen Hill hadn't paid much attention to plans for City Creek Center until a little more than a year ago when she saw a model of the LDS Church's proposed two-block downtown development at City Hall.

'I was horrified," Hill said. 'I couldn't believe there was even consideration of putting a skybridge over Main Street.'

Since then, she has been an active participant in the project's public process, speaking out against the proposed pedestrian walkway over Main Street to link the second levels of retail of the planned outdoor mall.

Hill calls skybridges 'an outdated an inferior design,' and she says constructing one over Main Street would weaken the sense of community on which Salt Lake City was built."

"Hill, a graduate student at the University of Utah, is completing a master's degree in urban planning and is preparing to begin a Ph.D program. For nearly a year she researched skybridges in urban settings and compiled her findings in a 43-page report titled 'Preserving Life of the Street.'"

"Hill cites several sources supporting her conclusion that skybridges hinder street-level pedestrian activity and promote segregation and separation. "Planning and design professionals are all standing up and saying that skybridges don't work in this setting," she said."