Quote:
Originally Posted by Future Mayor
I've said it on here before but I'm going to say it again. I really think Boyer and the city missed a perfect opportunity to create a truly magnificent transit hub. They should have built tracks that would have brought Amtrak and FrontRunner and possibly even trax into the basement of the UP Depot. What a better place to have a transit hub than in a transit station. Bringing a once great station back to life as a transit hub for an entire metro area would have been magnificent. Imagine arriving on a plane at SLC international, taking Trax to a historic downtown Depot and transfering onto FrontRunner to head north or South or continuing on trax into the CBD or up to the University.
Imagine thousands of additional people spilling into Gateway every day simply as a result of FrontRunner. Boyer needed to simply look 7 years ahead in order to envision it. Case in point, Isn't FrontRunner dropping passengers off at the Ogden Depot?
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I've agreed with you on this one before Future Mayor. I think it is just the astronomical costs of putting the Freight/Front Runner tracks below grade. If that were not an issue, I would have loved to see them run below 500 West, or maybe even the Front Runner portion below Rio Grande street. That way you could use both the UP Depot or the Rio Grand Depot if needs be. Sadly Front Runner does not direcly stop at the Ogden depot, but a block North with 100% less charm (Much like the Intermodal hub a block West of the Rio Grande Depot).
Personally I always thought 400 West was the best location for completing a downtown TRAX loop. But It seems every time I look at whats now on the drawing board the alignments have become more and more convoluted, which I think eventually becomes a deterrent to using the system at all.
The best choice for this neighborhood is to rebuild the North Temple viaduct for several reasons:
1) It shortens the North Temple viaduct by a block.
2) Eliminates the need to construct an ADDITIONAL viaduct over freight tracks on 600 West.
3) Could potentially create a visible pleasing gateway into downtown.
4) Allows for a transfer station at North Temple for inbound Front Runner trains from the North.
One of the commentors summed it up with the statement "Build a bridge that unites us, not divides us."