Salt Lake Transit News Thread

[billbillbillbill]

I would love it if CNG conversions were less regulated and restricted so more could afford to change over. If the market is there, stations around the valley will pop up. As for the buses, they tried them in the 90's and the engines couldn't handle the hills. An article from 2010 said they were going to try again but not much since.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50126894-76/buses-uta-cng-utah.html.csp

[Future Mayor]

I have seen natural gas buses around recently but specifically remember seeing one yesterday. So they are back.

[delts145]

For the majority of Wasatch bus routes the topography would not present any more of a problem than the L.A. basin and the S.F. Valley.

[CountyLemonade]

CNG buses are definitely making a comeback in the city. Twenty-four will enter service this year. Something like 101 CNG buses are to be ordered over a span of three years. UTA is really putting stock in the improved technology.

Mayor, do you remember on which route you saw the CNG bus running?

[DCRes]

Not sure if it's true or not but someone that works for Questar told me that the CEO of Questar and the CEO of UTA had a big falling out in the 90s and that is what ended the CNG buses. Someone has retired now which is why we are seeing them come back

[Makid]

Seeing as we have been recently talking about this, I figured others would be interest in this also:

What’s next at UTA?
Transit » The building blitz will slow for foreseeable future, with focus on gradually increasing service.



http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/55740829-90/bus-com-lake-projects.html.csp

The Utah Transit Authority just finished, or will complete in coming months, $2.4 billion worth of new projects: TRAX lines to South Jordan, West Valley City, Salt Lake City International Airport and Draper, a FrontRunner line to Provo and the Sugar House streetcar.

What’s next after the build-out blitz?

UTA wants to "restore some of the service that has been cut," says spokesman Gerry Carpenter.

Increased frequency » Sibul says UTA has been studying what its next step should be after the current expansion projects are complete. He said what jumped out most "is amping up the 15-minute services that connect" the new lines more frequently, to boost their usefulness to riders.

Such integration, he said, will help "really make those work and feed off each other better."

Carpenter said that as the economy improves and generates more sales tax and fares, UTA will be constantly looking at which routes and times of day could benefit most from more frequent service — and target those first.

But the changes could come slowly and gradually.

Low-hanging fruit » While UTA may focus more on trying to increase frequency, it also is continuing to plan many new projects. Sibul says most of the focus is on cheaper projects like "bus rapid transit," where buses may have their own dedicated lanes on busy highways.

UTA has one such line now on 3500 South in West Valley City, although only about a mile has special bus-only lanes. UTA is looking at such lines soon between Provo and Orem, from Taylorsville to Murray and along Redwood Road and the Mountain View Corridor in western Salt Lake County. More are in planning stages throughout the Wasatch Front.

More expensive projects » UTA also has plans for more expensive extensions of TRAX, FrontRunner and streetcars. But it may be some time before it can afford to build them.

For example, the current TRAX line to Sandy — which will extend to Draper later this year — is envisioned eventually to go around the Point of the Mountain to Lehi and continue all the way to Orem.

Sean Seager, director of regional planning for Mountainland, says northern Utah County has become a magnet to new high-tech companies and homes, and demand is high for more mass transit there. The new Adobe building in Lehi was even built to accommodate a future TRAX station on site.

UTA and Salt Lake City are looking at extending streetcar lines to the University of Utah and around downtown. UTA is studying a streetcar or TRAX extension into Davis County, and FrontRunner extensions to Brigham City and Payson.

Ogden and UTA are interested in a streetcar from downtown Ogden to Weber State University.

UTA is also looking at TRAX, bus rapid transit or other alternatives to the Wasatch canyons. UTA Board Chairman Greg Hughes says UTA even might use tunnels from old mines to connect Park City with mass transit up Big and Little Cottonwood canyons.

[delts145]

I would very much like to see the BRT plans for State Street take their place amongst the top of the list. I see State Street as becoming a carbon copy of L.A.'s Wilshire Blvd., where high density mixed-use mid-rise line the entire corridor. This would be punctuated by high rise islands such as Murray and Sandy. This is working extremely well for L.A., but no city including L.A. is set up as well for this type of scenario as the Salt Lake Valley Metro.

Future Street Car lines, bus routes as uncomplicated East/West options feeding into State Street, would make for an enviable future potential. This would be an excellent compliment to TRAX and would help to create quite the hefty, dense mid-corridor for the Salt Lake Valley.

[DCRes]

I would like to see the street car line from Ogden Frontrunner to Weber State happen. There are a lot of people living in Davis County that commute to Weber (I used to be one of them) and riding the bus took twice as long as driving. I know there are buses from the Frontrunner station to Weber but I would guess that streetcar would be faster. I graduated right as Frontrunner was opening so I never got to try that out.

[scottharding]

I think it's wise of UTA to take a bit of breather now and focus on the service of the system as it currently is. So I'm glad to read that.

[DMTower]

I think they should still make the downtown circulator a priority, as it would improve the efficiency of the existing system.

[Orlando]

It's nice to see all this planning ahead for furture mass transit lines, but a transit system will be less effective until the government starts creating incentives for development and growth to build up near existing infrastructure. Here in Portland, there has been so much infill and rebuilding in the city. They have created a system of incentives to do this here. The close-in neighborhoods are super popular to live in because of the continued investments in revitalizing existing places. In many cities, the fight against the newer suburbs has detroyed older inner first ring suburbs and city cores.

[Future Mayor]

I think other cities, such as SSL Murray, Midvale and Sandy will take notice of the changes that Salt Lake City has implemented, once new development starts to pop up around the Airport Trax line and on 400 S. I think the Airport line will develop more transit oriented sooner than 400 S simply because comparing the two right now, N. Temple has a much bigger need for redevelopment.

The city recently implemented new approval policies in the Transit zones. The approval process can be cut down significantly based on a points system that rewards points for different items such as LEED certified, removal of billboards, open space, design features, densities and many many more. The highest points level allow for an administrative approval, reducing the time that is necessary for presentation to Planning Commission, City Council and others. Obviously part of the process is that is matches design guidelines, density requirements and building codes.

I really think the airport line is opening up at the right time, it's sort of a perfect storm. The area is in serious need of redevelopment, the recent issues with the pollution of the inversion, the economy is continuing to get stronger, downtown SLC is growing and becoming more and more metropolitan with an increase in opportunities in shopping, working and entertainment, and a demographic push nation wide to more urban and downtown living.

I anticipate the first 7 or taller story development to break ground on N. Temple within 2-3 years.

[Reachforthesky]

UDOT is introducing another new Intersection type in our state called a J-Turn!




http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/55824592-90/north-turn-traffic-super.html.csp

[jedikermit]

KUER's RadioWest program today was about transit in Salt Lake City, focused on transit as part of the solution to our air quality problem. I haven't listened to it yet, but if you're looking to kill 53 minutes, the archive/podcast of it is here: http://radiowest.kuer.org/post/transit-solution

They always do a quality job, IMO...I'll be checking this out later.

[delts145]

Mayors join public fray over Wasatch Front air quality

By Amy Joi O'Donoghue, Deseret News

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86557...fray-over-Wasatch-Front-air-quality.html



Good article, some excellent suggestions to follow up on. I can't help but get a little frustrated sometimes though. It seems like people get lost in the minutiae. While a multi-pronged approach to the problem is necessary, I would also like to see a few of the large major causes tackled and knocked down immediately. Those major causes such as vehicles number one, and major industrial polluters number two.

For example, and this really led me to start thinking along this line. I was caught in traffic the other day, behind a school bus here in Central L.A. It was only for a couple of stop lights, but maaan was that school bus a cesspool of belching pollution, as all conventional school buses tend to be. I'm sure many of you have had this experience regularly. The effects from tailing a school bus can be quite immediate, head aches, nausea, etc. The encounter with this school bus really made me think of the current inversion dilemma along the Wasatch. The Wasatch is famous for it's prolific numbers of school age children. How many school buses are trolling the streets of the Wasatch each day? It's probably a sizable number. Is it too far of a stretch to think that this large fleet of school buses are putting out a major percentage of the vehicular pollution along the Wasatch Metro? Let's focus on getting those buses converted to CNG as quickly as possible, in addition of course to the conversion of all bus mass transit.

I know that we must deal with the one percent of the problem here, and the two percent of the problem there, but I want to see the political leaders start with the causes that make up larger chunks of the overall problem. When Rio Tinto brought out their plan for major expansions, they proposed at the same time to convert their three smaller coal fired burners to one. It will be a much cleaner more efficient, natural gas fired burner. The largest of the four burners would remain as is. Rio Tinto boasted very loudly that that conversion would be equal to removing ten percent of all vehicle pollution from the Wasatch Metro. This conversion will be operational in 2014. Thats a big chunk of improvement, but what about the one remaining burner, that was the largest of the four, which will still be belching out the same amount of particulate filfth? There has been quite an outcry by environmental groups(Doctors,Mothers,Scientists) demanding that the remaining burner be decommissioned. If Rio Tinto is to be allowed to expand, that should be the least it could do. Also, what amount of increased pollution must the Wasatch now prepare for with the advent of a major Rio Tinto expansion? Is it worth it? Consider, It would be bad enough if the operation were isolated and many miles away from the Wasatch Metro, but it's right on top of two and a half million people. I'm not advocating a shut-down of Rio Tinto operations, but there must be bold mitigation here, if it is to be allowed to expand right on top of one of the fastest growing metros in the nation! The same goes for Chevron and all related industrial ilk. They must comply with the latest in scrubbing, etc. technologies.

One of the major arguments right now is that the national standards are not nearly bold enough to meet the Wasatch Metros unique situation. The criticism is that factories are getting away with way too much in only having to comply with Federal standards, and that Utah must be allowed to establish stricter compliance.

I am very pro-growth, pro-business for the Wasatch. Also, we can't be too narrowly based on tourism, out-door recreation, or even high-tech. It's always much wiser to be widely deversified. Can't the Wasatch have both excellent broad based growth, and much cleaner air at the same time? Can a Rio Tinto or Chevron comply with the cleanest technologies, and still be competitive in the world market?

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[ajiuO]

I really love the backlit street signs on North Temple. They look amazing at night... Hopefully we see more of them.

It reminded me of something that Wyoming does that we should emulate... Variable Speed Limit signs. They put up digital speed limit signs on the freeway and then they can change the speed limit if the weather is bad... Or in our case if the air quality is bad... They could also up it to 75 in the summer.

[delts145]

Porter Rockwell Blvd. to provide east-west transportation corridor

Scrapers Cutting the Roadway for Porter Rockwell Blvd

http://www.udot.utah.gov

By Denise Sabin - 4 days ago...http://www.southvalleyjournal.com/pages/...ovide-east-west-transportation-corridor/

A major new road planned for Bluffdale will help to ease congestion and provide a thoroughfare to south valley residents. Porter Rockwell Blvd. will run southwest from 14600 South at 550 West, crossing Redwood Road at approximately 16000 South and intersecting with the Mountain View Corridor.

First conceived nearly 15 years ago, this road will fill the need for a major east-west connector for the south end of the valley.

“Porter Rockwell is important for regional transportation,” Mark Reid, Bluffdale city manager said. “Bluffdale has a lot of challenges going east and west.”

Some of these obstacles include railroad tracks, the Jordan River and irrigation canals. These transportation challenges within Bluffdale affect surrounding cities as well, since their residents must traverse through Bluffdale to get to I-15.

“Herriman doesn’t have a lot of routes for transportation going north,” Reid said. “Porter Rockwell is a great route to go around Bluffdale, instead of right through it.”

In addition to keeping their city from becoming a thoroughfare, Bluffdale city leaders also see the construction of this road as an opportunity for development.

Based on transportation studies, this will become a very busy corridor, Reid said. City leaders are planning on using this to their advantage by bringing in businesses along the corridor. The south section of the road ends near the Utah Data Center and is expected to be an especially promising area for commercial and business development, he said.

City officials are currently working on an economic development strategic plan that will more clearly outline options for growth in this area. Some priorities include bringing in tax revenues, as well as providing employment opportunities for residents.

Two segments of Porter Rockwell have already been partially constructed, one at each end of the corridor. The southwest section runs from Mountain View Corridor to Redwood Road, and the northeast section runs south from 14600 South, past Summit Academy high school, to approximately 15000 South. The next segment, which should be completed this spring, will continue south from the high school and border the new Independence master-planned community.

This road segment is needed to provide access to Independence, but is also being made possible by the development. DAI, the Independence developer, is providing the land for the corridor, and the impact fees from the building permits will help to fund construction of the road, City Engineer Michael Fazio said.

City officials are looking toward other developments on the south end of the corridor to help facilitate further road construction and to mitigate the estimated $110 million cost for the entire project. In addition to contributions by developers, other sources of funding will include federal, state and local funds.

So far, a $3.9 million federal grant has been awarded to the project. Additionally, $900,000 has been set aside by the Salt Lake County Council of Governments from its corridor preservation fund. These funds are collected on the county level and administered through city leaders working together. Fazio has applied for further funding through this avenue.

The two-and a half mile boulevard will eventually include five lanes; two in each direction and a turn lane, Fazio said. It will include bike lanes and a six-foot sidewalk, as well as the 10-foot wide Bonneville Shoreline Trail on the west side of the road. The project is scheduled for completion in eight years.
If you like this, share it!

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[delts145]

Is a train right for the terrain in South Valley?



Exterior view of the new J. L. Sorenson Recreation Center in Herriman

By Sherrie Ricks - 4 days ago

http://www.southvalleyjournal.com/pages/...-right-for-the-terrain-in-South-Valley?/

Herriman City officials voted unanimously Jan. 10 to participate in an environmental impact study that would explore the possibility of a public transportation system to run through the city.

Local officials hope to get TRAX extended from the Daybreak station in South Jordan to the FrontRunner station in Draper. However, the study may show that only bus rapid transit system or a trolley system would be appropriate for the area.

“We have seen the success of TRAX, and would like to see that available to the residents of Herriman,” Mayor Josh Mills said.

If TRAX was identified as the most viable option, the train would most likely run along either 12600 South or 13400 South, entering Herriman at about 5000 West.

This public transportation extension has been a part of the Regional Transit Plan for 10 years put together by the metro planning organization, Wasatch Front Regional Council,

The original plan was for the train to run along 13400 South. However, a feasibility study done during the summer of 2011 showed more benefit to the community if it ran on 12600 South. The environmental impact study will make the final determination.

The environmental impact study is the next step necessary to make a new public transportation system a reality. The study will look at the impact of all the options on nature: endangered species, water and air quality. It will also study its effects on social and human needs such as on local businesses, neighborhoods, growth patterns, historical and cultural needs. There will be a few public hearings during the estimated two-year course of the study.

“The environmental impact study is the final say. It determines if, where, and what the best transportation solution would be for the communities involved,” Assistant City Manager Gordon Haight said.

The study will follow guidelines set by the federal government so that the project will be eligible for future federal funds.

South Jordan, Riverton and Draper are also involved with the study as the proposed transportation extension would run through these cities.

The proposed new line would start at Daybreak and run to the Herriman Town Center on either 12600 South or 13400 South, crossing the Mountain View Corridor and Bangerter Highway. It would then provide access to Riverton Hospital, Riverton High School and Riverton Town Hall.

Then it would connect to the FrontRunner station in Draper at 12800 South Front Runner Blvd. (550 West).

The cost of the study is just over $2 million. Herriman will be responsible for $250,000, half of which will be paid this year, and the balance will be paid next year.

Although the money is already part of the approved budget, these funds are not paid by taxes to the residents. A number of private developers have provided much of the funding for the EIS study.

Riverton City is responsible for $750,000, South Jordan $10,000 and Draper $10,000. Salt Lake County will pay $15,000. (Amounts are determined by the portion of the proposed line that falls within each city’s boundaries.) Utah Transit Authority will pay $1,000,000.

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[SLC Projects]

Seems like Trax is going in everywhere and that every city now wants Trax to come though their city with stops along the way. Love it. Bring it.

[xseven]

It amazes me every time when I read articles of how many cities want TRAX... Back in 1988, no one wanted TRAX and it was voted down in SL County.