Salt Lake Transit News Thread

[bob rulz]

Why would they build a TRAX line from Provo to Snowbasin?

[kickback256]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

Why would they build a TRAX line from Provo to Snowbasin?

Provo to Snowbasin is completely unfeasible and unrealistic. Hoping somebody just got their place names wrong.

[Nebula3lem123]

I would imagine its some sort of transit from Ogden to Snowbasin, which imo would be a much better use of a gondola than LCC since the current drive requires going around the back of the mountain.

[bob rulz]

TRAX from Ogden to Snowbasin, or Provo to Sundance, would also be ludicrous. Some kind of express bus service would make much more sense.

[Paniolo Man]

For a lack of other transit news, here's the site of the Willard Frontrunner station:

[Atlas]

If the Rio Grande Plan happens, it will probably the biggest thing to ever come out of this website haha.

Stay tuned, folks. Lots happening behind the scenes!

[i-215]

I hope the plan is successful. Every time I scroll around on Google Maps looking at the way the railroad track aligns, it just makes far too much sense. Especially in an area of downtown that is quickly becoming premium property.

Other secondary projects include:

Making it possible to build freeway undercrossings/tunnels at 700S, 300 S, and 100 S to connect both sides of the neighborhoods together.

Connect South Temple from 600 W to 500 W


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Had SLC advocates been smart, they would have foisted the Rio Grande Plan (and subsequent street re-connections) onto the I-15 widening project, rather than just opposing the project cart blanche.

[Atlas]

Originally Posted by i-215

Had SLC advocates been smart, they would have foisted the Rio Grande Plan (and subsequent street re-connections) onto the I-15 widening project, rather than just opposing the project cart blanche.

It's not been easy getting UDOT to take it seriously, so I'm afraid it's not that simple. They lean on the WFRC and the legislature for direction, so getting something as big as the RGP into an existing project was never going to happen. And we haven't been outright opposed to the I-15 expansion, but it's a nice point of comparison in terms of cost/benefit. If the state is willing to burn $2-4+ billion on expanding an existing asset, why can't it spend a similar amount (or less, with federal support) to do something with far more public benefit and value capture potential?

As far as other projects go, someone recently proposed the idea of a westward TRAX extension from Murray Central along 5400S for the Olympics. I love that idea: direct rail connections to Taylorsville High, Midvalley Performing Arts Center, Kearns High, the Olympic Oval, and ultimately the former USANA amphitheater. It could then run in the median of the Mountain View Corridor (stopping near Hunter High) up to West Valley and turn east on 3500 S, then meet up with Green. Call it the "Green Loop" lol.

[ucsbgaucho]

Originally Posted by Atlas

If the Rio Grande Plan happens, it will probably the biggest thing to ever come out of this website haha.

Stay tuned, folks. Lots happening behind the scenes!

What are the odds an influx of federal funding for infrastructure in advance of the Olympics would push this over the finish line? Feels like the lawmakers in favor should be starting to set up mechanisms to lobby for those earmarks that will be coming our way, and with the Olympics announcement later this summer and 10 years of planning and construction time, seems like a totally doable scenario.

[ucsbgaucho]

Major downtown highway could get tunnel treatment as part of new sports district plan
https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics...=snd-autopilot
By Robert Gehrke
| May 30, 2024, 12:00 p.m.
| Updated: 2:00 p.m.

A vision of Ryan Smith and his Smith Entertainment Group’s new downtown sports and entertainment district includes tall, gleaming buildings, lining a long promenade leading right to the front door of the Delta Center, the home of the Jazz and Utah’s new professional hockey team.

Missing from the near-futuristic cityscape is 300 West, also known as John Stockton Drive. The six-lane state highway that moves roughly 16,000 cars and trucks per day appears submerged underneath the promenade in renderings presented at a city council meeting earlier this month.

Smith’s group is at least considering burying the heavily-traffic route between North Temple and 100 South, and using the area above the tunnel to install the new pedestrian mall and entertainment district depicted in the rendering of the district.

Smith’s representatives have been careful to emphasize that they are preliminary proposals and not the final product. A spokesperson for SEG reiterated that point when asked to comment on plans for 300 West.

But sinking the state highway is more than a fleeting notion, as earlier this month SEG’s planners were gathering data on the feasibility of the concept.
...
“Every large city has to deal with this and there are less expensive ways to do it and more expensive ways to do it,” he said. “If the sky’s the limit and you don’t have a budget constraint, sure, put the heavy vehicles underground and remove that conflict.”

But in terms of opening up the west side of the city, he said a better proposal is the Rio Grande Plan’s vision of burying the railroad tracks that run west of downtown, creating better traffic flow and freeing up 75 acres of developable space.

“To me, those are much more impactful,” he said. “If you’re going to invest that kind of money, that’s where I’d put it.”

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Interesting comment at the end there about the Rio Grande!

[Nebula3lem123]

New image on UTA's frontrunner forward page gives a map of the planned doubletracking at certain phases



This map was created as a part of a pamphlet given to the legislature this past session, which includes the phasing roadmap we saw in september last year and some other tidbits. Source