[Makid]

My understanding is that the Eastern route will come first and a Western route will come later once development starts to come in.

The only question on the Western route is would it follow the current planned route or would it take the "Stub" and connect it to a Trax Red Line extension.

Going with the Red Line extension through the area and connecting to the Stub and then having an enhanced bus or BRT through the current Western route would be the best. This would get the Blue Line extended where it is most feasible, cheaper and providing the faster service. The Bus route could be launched at the same time as the Blue line extension. This would allow additional time for development to come in before the Red line is extended to connect to the Stub.

The Red line extension is the key to this as the Gov wants both to happen (Red and Blue extensions) but has conceded that the Blue has to come first and it needs to get into Utah County quickly. This is partially due to commitments that were made as well as a push to help traffic in the area. The only way to help traffic is to offer speedier service which can only come from the Eastern route for the Blue line extension.

I do expect that there will be a push by the Legislature to get funding started for the Blue line extension soon. The EIS is complete for the SL County portion of the extension continuing on the Eastern route and I think it was either completed down to American Fork or could be done fairly quickly.

This would allow the Legislature to enact the 0.25% sales tax increase in SL and Utah Counties with the funds going to the SL County extension and the stub while the EIS is completed in Utah County. Once completed, funds would be able to be spent there to speed construction along.

With the 0.25% sales tax increased in just SL and Utah Counties, it is estimated to provide just over $91 Million starting in 2021 and increasing over time due to projected growth, this revenue would easily support the Blue line extension ($1.5 Billion) and a full double track ($1 Billion) and electrify FrontRunner ($0.6 Billion). Bonding for these projects could be done starting in 2021 and both projects could be completed by around 2025/2026. I would think that if they want to use sales tax increase, they should implement it in the whole UTA district as this would supply between $130 Million and $150 Million a year.

The 0.25% sales tax mentioned is already authorized and can be implemented at any time by any County that has already activated the old Prop 1 sales tax increase (done over the last year in both SL and Utah Counties) as well as Weber and Davis counties previously. It can be activated by the County Councils directly without going to the voters.