Salt Lake Transit News Thread

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by i-215

I drove on it at about 45 MPH ... but I was doing sight-seeing. So were 8 cars in front of me.

But if I ever drove it again ... I'd drive "at least" 65.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3093214777896087207&hl=en

LOL, you beat me to it. I was thinking of making a video tour of the Parkway. Oh well, nice video. I'm still yet to drive on it.

[delts145]

Monday commute a breeze on Legacy Parkway

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700259207,00.html

Traffic flowed on Interstate 15 for the first time in what seemed a long time during the inaugural commute for the Legacy Parkway.

Taking 25 percent of the vehicles off of I-15 will do that.

Eventually, up to 30 percent of the 155,000 vehicles that drive through Farmington, Centerville, Bountiful and North Salt Lake are expected to take Legacy Parkway...

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[arkhitektor]

Even the Tribune has taken note of the new roadkill problems that Legacy has created:

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10474527

According to the article it's no problem becuase motorists are just doing their part to thin the population of the disruptive, non-native species every time one is run over on the freeway.

[delts145]

The Legacy continues? Corridor to extend parkway may run through homes

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700259523,00.html

SYRACUSE — Construction on Legacy Parkway may be complete, but local leaders have long dreamed of a connecting highway from Farmington along the western side of Davis County, north to the Weber County border and beyond.
Dubbed the "West Davis Highway" by planners more than 40 years ago, the highway could eliminate the need for commuters to bog down east-west roads in northern Davis County to get to Interstate 15, which has been, mercifully, flowing well three days in a row since Legacy opened for business.


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[arkhitektor]

Comet cars added to FrontRunner:
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=4284643

I rode one of these to work this morning, they are actually quite comfortable and roomy.
UTA has obviously done a better job fixing these up than with the "ghetto TRAX" cars from VTA in San Jose.
They should definitely re-upholster the brown leather seats though.

[delts145]

Commuters ‘loving’ Legacy

http://davisclipper.com/default.asp?sour...=&pform=&sc=1005&hn=clippertoday&he=.com


EARLY NUMBERS show commuters switching over to Legacy.

“I love, love, love it,” said Centerville resident Sharon Gray, who daily commutes to an office building near the airport. “I’m totally in heaven with it.”
She also had to drive I-15 once on Tuesday and found “tons less traffic,” on the interstate than previously. “I was able to go 65-70 mph all the way to Salt Lake.”

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[delts145]

Light rail, streetcars being evaluated in South Davis study

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700261050,00.html

A recently completed analysis identified either a TRAX line or streetcar could function well in southern Davis County from Centerville to Salt Lake City.

[scrapernerd]

[/QUOTE]Just got this email and I don't think I have seen it on the forum yet.
Mid-Jordan Light Rail TRAX Construction Update: September 25

[scrapernerd]

Ignore the last post

[delts145]

FrontRunner Stretching Further North - Pleasant View Line Opens

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700261758,00.html

The Utah Transit Authority is beginning FrontRunner service to Pleasant View in Weber County, with full service expected in January.

Union Station - Northern Metro, Ogden

by bridgepix


wikipedia
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[arkhitektor]

Just what the west-side needs: Another Bangerter Highway with stoplights every few miles.

Planners scale back Mountain View freeway to address pollution concerns
By Brandon Loomis
The Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated: 09/25/2008 06:20:32 AM MDT
Click here for the full article.

Environmentalists are praising Mountain View freeway planners for their responses to air-pollution fears and mass-transit desires in a final environmental study that the state will release Friday.
In fact, it won't be a freeway for years to come, but a limited-access, four-lane expressway that's still governed by streetlights at major intersections. A full eight-lane freeway is expected to cost $3 billion. Officials were not immediately sure Wednesday evening how much the scaled-back approach saves, but so far the Legislature has granted only a few hundred million for initial work.
The plan would build four lanes west of Bangerter Highway from Salt Lake City to Lehi in conjunction with a bus rapid-transit system that runs on curb-separated lanes down the center of 5600 West. It also would put millions into pollution controls at schools along the route. Utah proposes to spend $3.1 million filtering air inside the schools and $1 million to monitor the air outside. The state also would buy land in West Valley City to relocate the closest school - Hillside Elementary - if school officials decide to move.

Thank the Sierra Club! Is there really a need to spend millions of dollars to filter indoor air and relocate schools? I'm all for clean air but I doubt that a single new highway is going to generate so much pollution that it will pose a threat to the health of nearby school children.
I think that the stoplights instead of full interchanges is more of a budget issue than anything else, but it seems that cars idling at stoplights would create a lot more pollution.

[wrendog]

What???? Please tell me that this won't really happen this way. Mountain View needs to be a FREEWAY!!!!!

[Makid]

This is what they are looking at.

Honestly, I think that if they are looking at this plan, they should scrap the plan and use the money for this to upgrade Bangerter to a full freeway. That would be a better benefit then another stop and go limited access highway.

[wrendog]

^^^^ Agreed.

[arkhitektor]

The Final EIS has been posted on UDOT's website. Read it here:

Its hundreds of pages of long, but here's what looks to be the main implementation plan:

Phase 1:

Build a dedicated BRT lane on 56th West from 27th to 62nd South:





The highway is built west of 5600 W. as a 4-lane road with no grade separation but space is preserved between the roads for future expansion:

Phase 2:

The BRT is expanded to the entire 5600 W Corridor:



The grade separation is added to the highway:

Phase 3:

The BRT right of way is upgraded to light rail along 5600 W.:



The highway is expanded to include 4 travel lanes in each direction and overpasses are upgraded to match:

A similar phased implementation is used for the connection at 2100 N. in Utah County:

[arkhitektor]

So overall, it doesn't look like that bad a plan, and its actually pretty balanced. They will start with what we can afford now: the 4-lane highway with stoplights, but preserve land in a wide median to upgrade to overpasses and more lanes later as funds become available. With Bangerter, they didn't leave and room for future expansions/upgrades. I'm glad to see they are doing a better job planning this time around.

I'm also pretty impressed with the addition of a transit corridor along 5600 W.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by arkhitektor

Thank the Sierra Club! Is there really a need to spend millions of dollars to filter indoor air and relocate schools? I'm all for clean air but I doubt that a single new highway is going to generate so much pollution that it will pose a threat to the health of nearby school children.
I think that the stoplights instead of full interchanges is more of a budget issue than anything else, but it seems that cars idling at stoplights would create a lot more pollution.

Yes that's so good thinking Sierra Club. Because having all this traffic siting at red lights with the car engines running is SO much better for our air. God I swear sometimes that the Sierra Club are run by retards.
Having traffic run smoothly our a none stop freeway is MUCH better for our air then to have cars stop, sit and go....stop,sit and go at every freaking light just like Bangerter Highway.

Sierra Club=

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by arkhitektor

So overall, it doesn't look like that bad a plan, and its actually pretty balanced. They will start with what we can afford now: the 4-lane highway with stoplights, but preserve land in a wide median to upgrade to overpasses and more lanes later as funds become available. With Bangerter, they didn't leave and room for future expansions/upgrades. I'm glad to see they are doing a better job planning this time around.

I'm also pretty impressed with the addition of a transit corridor along 5600 W.

That is very well planned out. It could take years, but at least they can get going on the first phase if the funds are there. I wish Bangerter Highway was this well thought out back in the day. Oh well.
I do really like the bus lanes in that first rendering.

[arkhitektor]

After reading into it a little more, it seems like the lack of grade separation had more to do with a lack of funds than it did with oppsition from the Sierra Club.

I think the environmental groups were pushing to have transit included in the plan (which they got), as well as the air filtration for systems for elementary schools and the relocation of an entire school in WVC (Which I think is stupid. I went to gradeschool next to a freeway and I didn't die of pollution at recess, neither did any of my friends.)

Overall, I think that UDOT has been pretty progressive as of late, and I hope that the state/feds can come through with some funding to finally get this thing started. (Maybe we could get Dolan and his lobbyist friends to attach its funding to some bill in congress, just like with the money he got for 1300 E. in Sandy )

[urbanboy]

I say bag the freeway or highway idea all together, then set up urban growth boundaries and designating the undeveloped land as agriculture or open space!

One highway, or a freeway does have an impact on air quality and studies show that children who live within a certain distance of a freeway or highway are more likely to develop asthma than children who do not live within a certain radius of a highway or freeway.