SLC leaders say streetcars desired after transit tour -
Mayor Becker says a network here needs to be a priority after seeing how much Northwest cities benefit
A Portland, Ore., city-owned streetcar, similar to a proposed Sugar House streetcar that would use similar cars. (UTA)
By Derek P. Jensen
The Salt Lake Tribune
Giddy about the efficiency of Portland's downtown streetcar system - and the economic spoils it spurs - Salt Lake City leaders are determined to bring new tracks and trolleys to Utah's capital.
Fresh from a Northwest transit tour of Portland, Seattle and Vancouver with 28 city and business officials, Mayor Ralph Becker says a new streetcar network, beginning in downtown, is a priority for his freshman administration.
"Lay the tracks and development happens," Becker told reporters Thursday morning at City Hall. "That's what we saw place after place."
The vision, shared by the Redevelopment Agency, Salt Lake Chamber and the City Council, is to see streetcars - they stop on each block and charge a fare in some areas - connect to both light- and heavy-rail hubs. Eventually, they could spread into neighborhoods - the planned Sugar House trolley would serve as a model - rendering vehicles unnecessary for capital visitors and residents alike.
"Within a five-year horizon, it's doable," said Bob Farrington, the city's new economic development director.
Call it back to the future for Utah's capital, which once boasted a bustling web of street trolleys but has since seen its 150 miles of track buried by concrete. Becker says resurrecting those lines is not practical, but insists laying new streetcar tracks can be done in 18 months - and it's cheaper than TRAX.
Farrington notes the shorter the mileage, the cheaper the cost, emphasizing that a circulator system downtown would take priority.
"I am sold on the concept and the benefits of streetcars," Councilman J.T. Martin beamed. "That is the future."
Lane Beattie, Salt Lake Chamber president, insisted a system that connects City Creek Center with The Gateway could be complete by the projected opening of downtown's $1.5 billion commercial hub in 2012.
"They are driving economic development through transit," he said about Portland, noting Salt Lake City could do the same.
Indeed, Becker says a key funding component would come from businesses drawn to the new trolley corridors, which could help pay for the infrastructure through special assessments - or property taxes in the case of redevelopment areas. Becker also hopes to tap more federal money with a new administration in Washington, D.C., that he says promises to be more transit-friendly.
The mayor says a bond, placed on a ballot for voters, has not been considered for the system, which generally costs $20 million a mile.
City leaders say a slow-moving trolley network would improve the valley's air quality and reduce the need for businesses to include expensive parking.
No specific route has been picked for new trolley tracks that would be designed to share the road with cars. But, once built, they could help move as much money as people.
D.J. Baxter, the city's Redevelopment Agency director, says Portland's $55 million 2.5-mile system generated $3 billion in private investment over 10 years. It also led to 700 new residences and 4.6 million square feet of commercial construction.
Streetcars, Martin notes, revitalized Portland's once-"derelict" Pearl District. "That really hit home to me," he said. "It's not just talk - it really did happen."
With that in mind, Becker says he would like to identify areas ripe for redevelopment that simply need a "catalyst." Neither Portland nor Seattle, he marvels, had federal funding secured before launching their projects.
Seattle, Becker points out, did not complete its trolley system until last November. As more Utahns forsake their cars for downtown lofts, commute by air-conditioned train - and retirees eyeball City Creek Center's condo towers - Salt Lake City is on the cusp of a similar urban renewal. All of it, the urban planner smiles, is anchored by transit.
"We're really at the front edge of this."
Portland's rolling investment
$55M
Cost of system
2.5 miles
Length of system
$3B
Private investment generated by system
10 years
Time it took to generate investment
700
New homes have been built along system
4.6M
Square feet of commercial construction along system
I am sold on the concept and the benefits of streetcars. That is the future.
-City Councilman J.T. Martin, about streetcars in Salt Lake City.
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