After the Salt Lake County Council decided to officially
support the Rio Grande Plan this week for future study, I think we are at the point now where this deserves a dedicated thread. The Salt Lake City Council also tacitly supports the Plan and the City has funded two official studies.
The Rio Grande Plan is a citizen-driven idea to reroute the heavy rail lines that cut through downtown SLC into a "train box" underground along one of SLC's infamously wide streets. The cut-and-cover trench would hold 6 tracks: three for Union Pacific, two for UTA, and one for Amtrak. Passenger trains would again stop at the historic Rio Grande Depot, built in 1910, and over 75 acres would be opened for redevelopment. 8 grade crossings would be grade separated and 2-3 blocked streets would be reconnected, allowing for greatly-improved access between the two socioeconomically-divided halves of the city.
• Video Link
The Rio Grande Plan was inspired by similar projects in Reno and Denver and
was first proposed in 2019 on SkyscraperPage
by user Hatman, and in the five years since it has grown a huge following and is now being taken seriously at higher levels of government.