Salt Lake International Airport Development Thread

[Hatman]

^^^
From the passenger's experience the only real difference is that the elevated TRAX station would have been basically inside the parking garage. The platform itself would be open-air, but passengers would immediately enter the climate-controlled area of the airport's welcome center. The ground-level station location requires passengers to enter/exit the airport building and walk on the sidewalk outside (exposed to wind, rain, snow etc), even if it is for a very short distance.
It's a small difference, but it makes a big deal to overall experience.

What I'm more annoyed about is the fact that the airport was prohibited - by state law - from using redevelopment money on any kind of public transit improvements. I mean, this is a public project for a public airport, and there is a prohibition of using public money on public transit? This public money can only be used on private automobiles? How much more dissonant can you get?

I cannot wait for the day when transportation is considered an essential part of any project. Sort of like shopping carts - if you go to a grocery store that requires you to bring your own cart or rent one for a huge fee (with insurance!), I'm sure you would not want to return to that store. A cart is just a thing they have to provide in order for the system to work. One day free public transportation will be just as expected. What good is a public airport, a public library, or a public park, if there is no way for people to get to them other than paying a large fee to some autonomous taxi corporation? When that day comes, people will look back on the story of the airport TRAX station and shake their heads and wonder how anyone could have ever survived back in our days.