^^^
Certainly not comparing SLC to SF in size or scope, but the comparison of 'SF kept their historic streetcars and cable cars going while SLC tore them up in favor of sprawl' is a completely valid comparison. SF made a much better choice than SLC in this regard. I'm not sure SLC could support a streetcar system as vast is it had in its heyday, but one or two of those lines operating historic equipment at high headways would have made SLC a much different place than it is today.
I would take time to be sad, but I'd rather say that we'll get them back. Eventually.
Meanwhile, what with the development soon to happen at the South Jordan FrontRunner station, I thought I would take my own shot at the South Jordan/Sandy connector. I know several people have posted plans for a fix-route connection between those two stations, which is good because they are only a mile apart and connection through the 'downtown' Sandy is such an obvious one to make. Here's my proposal:
1) Create a 'new' Trax line from the downtown SLC (Intermodal Hub or maybe even the U) to Sandy Civic Center. This new line will double the headways of the blue line from downtown to Sandy, and take some stress off that line - meaning the blue line can run fewer cars per train. This is important, because once the blue line is extended south to Lehi and Utah county, running 4-car trains over the point of the mountain will make very little sense.
2) Once this new line is in operation from downtown to Sandy Civic Center, a 1.3 mile new alignment can be constructed to 'downtown' Sandy, with one track on each side of the grassy mall. One stop would be near the city hall building on the north end of the mall, and another stop would be on the south end, near the South Towne mall. Hopefully this alignment uses exclusive transit lanes, center-running where possible.
From there the new alignment will be reduced to 1 track to save costs. There will be a bridge over I-15 and over the railroad tracks to an elevated platform on the west side of the FrontRunner tracks. Trax trains running 10-15 minutes apart will enter the station, trade operators, and depart northbound to downtown in a matter of minutes, negating the need for a second track, an island platform, or tail tracks (if they need car storage tracks they have one already just south of Sandy Civic Center station). The Trax station will need stairs and a ramp (or possibly escalators and an elevator) to connect to the FrontRunner station aproximately 20 feet below.
The single track portion is 0.3 miles long, and the double track portion is approximately 1 mile long, meaning 2.3 miles of track total construction. The bridge and elevated station (built on fill material) would make this project much more expensive, but the advantages would be enormous. For example, REAL fans traveling to a game from the south can get off FrontRunner, board the Trax, go 4 stops, and walk the block to their game.
The new alignment would look something like this:
Thoughts? Flaws?
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