Salt Lake Transit News Thread

[Future Mayor]

I've said this since The Gateway was built, but what needed to happen, which I doubt will happen now. Is that the future commuter rail line (Front Runner) needed to be incorporated into the design of The Gateway. The UP Depot needed to be utilized as the main transit hub, just as Union Station in Denver is. The Front Runner and Amtrak lines needed to be brought in underground, to provide the opportunity to still remove the tracks in the middle of 400 W and still allow for the shortening of the viaducts to expand the downtown footprint.

Greyhound could even have been brought in to a below grade platform along with Front Runner and Amtrak. Trax would then be offered at grade on 400 W or even directly behind the UP Depot. Build The Gateway surrounding that and The Gateway wouldn't be in the situation it is currently in. With tens of thousands of people walking directly into your retail development on a daily basis, they would be struggling as much as they are, even with City Creek.

I guess it could still be done, but I don't see it happening for several decades if at all. Yes Central Station is on the edge of downtown, but I do think that Station Center will develop nicely and it will be a very vibrant neighborhood within the downtown core. I anticipate as soon as the homeless committee makes decisions as to where the shelters will be relocated to, even if just the mens shelter, that Station Center and the entire Gateway neighborhood will explode in development. It's surrounded by development and there is even some happening near by, Alta Gateway, along with Central 9th, it's the logical direction for growth in the city. I predict that in 10 years we will all be fine with Central Station in it's current location.