The Olympic torch will make its triumphal entry into Salt Lake City Thursday along the same route Mormon pioneers used to settle the city more than 150 years before.
The entry through Emigration Canyon in east Salt Lake will include a stagecoach procession to This Is the Place Heritage Park.
From the park it will head to the University of Utah, the state Capitol, the Administration Building of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Abravanel Hall and finally to Washington Square surrounding the City-County Building downtown.
An actor portraying Brigham Young will ride in a coach immediately preceding the torch into the heritage park just after 4 p.m.
At the park, admission to the pioneer village will be free all day, and there will be a 15-minute celebration at the flame's arrival. Spectators are asked to arrive at least an hour early.
The torch will move through the U. campus and the Avenues, reaching the Capitol shortly after 6 p.m. There will then be a 10-minute pause before heading down the steps to the old LDS Church Administration Building on South Temple where it will be handled by LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley and other church leaders.
Out of the LDS Church leaders' hands the torch will head back to the east side of the city, taking 900 East and 1300 East into the Sugar House district.
From Sugar House the torch will return downtown, making a 15-minute stop at Abravanel Hall about 9 p.m. before heading to the City-County Building to begin Salt Lake's downtown celebration just after 10 p.m.
By the time the torch arrives, the party at Washington Square will have already been going for hours.
The celebration is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with bands and speeches on tap.
"People are urged to come early," said Josh Ewing, spokesman for Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson. "If they come at 10, there won't be a spot for them."
A throng of 35,000 is expected on torch night.
The Utah Department of Transportation warns motorists that the relay will create a roaming 15- to 30-minute traffic delay. Drivers wanting to miss the delays should avoid certain streets the torch is traveling through on Thursday.
Those streets include Foothill Drive near the U. around 4:30 p.m., 1300 East between 800 South and 2700 South about 7 p.m. and 700 East between 2100 South and 500 South about 8 p.m.
At 4:30 p.m. on Thursday the Olympic park-and-ride lots will begin taking spectators into downtown Salt Lake City for the torch relay ceremony.
Olympic planners suggest people who want to come downtown to see the torch should use the park-and-ride lots. Those lots are located in North Salt Lake at I-15 exits 317 and 318, western Salt Lake at I-80 exit 115 or I-215 exit 22, Liberty Park, both Salt Lake Community College campuses, Sugarhouse Park, 5300 South and 200 West, Skyline High School, Cottonwood Mall and Utah Valley State College.
UDOT is also warning that in addition to road closures already implemented for the Olympics, additional street closures are planned for Thursday's torch relay through Salt Lake City. Streets that will be closed from 6 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. are:
Main Street: South Temple to 500 South, both directions.
State Street (will remain closed until 4 a.m.): North Temple to 500 South, both directions.
400 South: West Temple to 300 East, both directions.
East-west streets (300 South to 500 South): From West Temple to 200 East, both directions.
North Temple: 300 West to 200 West, both directions.
On Friday, rolling road restrictions will begin at 5 a.m. as the torch moves from downtown Salt Lake City into Davis County and then back through several Salt Lake County cities, including West Valley City, Kearns, Draper, Sandy and Murray, before heading to Rice-Eccles Stadium for opening ceremonies, which begin at 6 p.m.
E-MAIL: bsnyder@desnews.com