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New plan puts trains in Downtown SLC underground – and makes the Rio Grande depot a real central station

https://utawesome.com/sites/default/...?itok=7MK3VgEN



Luke Garrott Reports, Dec. 31, 2020 - Full Article & Additional Photos @ https://www.buildingsaltlake.com/new...ntral-station/

Removing the train yards that remain in west Downtown Salt Lake City opens 52 acres of developable land, claim the authors of an uncommissioned plan currently bubbling in SLC development circles.

The informal visioning document – titled the Rio Grande Plan – claims to solve problems that have dogged the area for decades: at-grade railroad crossings, unused tracks blocking mobility and new construction, massive bridges erasing street frontage, a dead zone around the central transit station on 600 West.

Authored by a Salt Lake City engineer-designer duo, Christian Lenhart and Cameron Blakely, the Rio Grande Plan has buzzed up the city’s SkyscraperPage and Reddit urban development forums this December.

Former Redevelopment Agency Executive Director DJ Baxter, who oversaw planning for trains under Mayors Rocky Anderson and Ralph Becker, called the plan “very ambitious and very exciting” in an email to Building Salt Lake.

City Planning Director Nick Norris, whose team will be meeting with the plan’s authors in early January, saw “a fairly impressive proposal” at first blush...

The Rio Grande Plan's reimagining of the Depot District cleared of rails and the Rio Grande Depot revived as a transit center. Image courtesy Christian Lenhart and Cameron Blakely.

...The first goal of the Rio Grande Plan, according to Christian Lenhart, PE, is to increase safety by removing at-grade railroad crossings. The plan shows how the crossings at 900, 800, and 200 South will be eliminated, along with the crossing at 800 West and South Temple.

Tracks at 900 S (left), 800 S, and 200 S (right) would disappear, lifting major barriers between west and east sides. Photos by Luke Garrott.

How? A nine-block-long, 6-track subterranean “train box” below 500 West from South Temple to 900 South. Since the trench is a concrete structure, its cost is significantly lower than other tunnel-digging technologies, like boring. The cost is estimated at $300-500M, using comparable projects recently completed in Denver and Reno. Funding sources could include the federal government, city bonds backed by TIF, contributions by UTA, UDOT, and Union Pacific.

The entire project fits below the existing 500 West right-of-way, making any additional acquisition of land unnecessary. Image courtesy Christian Lenhart and Cameron Blakely.

UP may be highly enthusiastic about the project, Lenhart contends, given its current “aggressive program of closing at-grade railroad crossings.” Efficiency and safety operations would be greatly enhanced by a subterranean right-of-way through Downtown while closing four crossings.

Only TRAX trains and busses would be at surface grade in Downtown. Amtrak, commuter rail, intercity rail, and freight rail would all be underground in the city center, from South Temple to 900 South...

...The authors also note the positives beyond safety of removing the train tracks at 200, 800, and 900 South: reducing a major barrier between east and west in the city.

While every driver has suffered lost productivity while waiting for trains to pass, the train tracks also rob the city of connective fabric. Take away the train tracks, and the harsh, gaping geographical expanse that runs north-south down the middle of the city – created by the railroad and Interstate rights-of-way – can be narrowed.

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