Salt Lake Transit News Thread

[Paniolo Man]

After the Rio Grande Plan event I briefly chatted with one of UTA's top planning staff.

I had asked about the 400 West TRAX alignment at one of their events earlier in the week and he had said it is one of the alternatives under consideration. After the Rio Grande Plan event he specified that they are working with knowledge of the Rio Grande Plan and that if it were realized, this alignment would be better and have fewer curves. He also said that there is significant pressure to get a second line to SL Central, which is why most materials show the lame version with more curves and the loop going through SL Central.

I have talked with several UTA employees ove the last year and most seem receptive to the Rio Grande Plan, it is mostly the board that is antagonistic.

[Paniolo Man]

Speaking of UTA planning.

here is their draft Long-Range Transit Plan highlights:







Annoying that it doesn't include Frontrunner to Brigham City. Thankfully few agencies in this state actually follow their plans, so it could still happen.

Also of note:

[Nebula3lem123]

^^ I went to the LRTP meeting at the SoJo library in September and I was and still am very disappointed in UTA's seeming lack of ambition. For a "cost unconstrained" map, there isn't very much here, and as a south valley resident, UTA OnDemand isn't a good option while the one bus route suffers.

[bob rulz]

Yeah having such limited service in southern Salt Lake County and northern Utah County by 2050 is a bit of a joke. Plus no Frontrunner to Brigham City? I just read an article that they're still pursuing it, so why leave it out of the vision?

UTA desperately needs to ditch the bureaucrats and bring in the visionaries.

[Paniolo Man]

New Frontrunner bike racks:

[Atlas]

Squinting at that last map, I spy a 200S streetcar somehow still in their plans

[Nebula3lem123]

^I have a lot of problems with the "downtown to university" streetcar that's been in plans everywhere for a long while.

1. The city already is reconstructing the street with great bus lanes to make the 2, 220, and any other bus routes on 2nd to go much faster once construction is complete.

2. The proposed route is just bad, it starts on 2nd, but makes its way to 1st and then south temple with very sharp corners, which combined would make the streetcar WAYY slower than any current busses from downtown to the U. It would be ok if it just picked south temple or 2nd, but it does a zig-zag instead for no clear reason.

These factors just mean that the proposed streetcar will be worse than the current 1, 2(maybe 2x if that comes back), 220, 4, and 9, maybe even throw in the 223 just in terms of speed alone. And in terms of frequency, its probably just gonna be 15 minutes, which is just as good as the 1, 2, and 9.

[RC14]

I thought the plan was to run the Orange line up main St to South Temple to the North Temple Bridge Fruntrunner Stop and on to the Airpot? That seems like the logical route until the 400 south extension is built.

[Nebula3lem123]

That was one of the original options, but the routing of the orange line along 4th south seem to be final. Also I'm pretty sure the orange line isn't planned to be inaugurated until a bit after 4th south trax is complete.

[Atlas]

Yeah, the streetcar doesn't make a lot of sense unless it goes from Greektown straight up 200S to the U (and maybe over to Stadium on University?)

Here's what seems to be UTA's preference for TechLink. There's also an interactive map where you can leave comments (lots of Rio Grande Plan support there!) They are still considering some similar alternatives and my favorite is the one I shared a few posts ago which would eliminate the jaunt out to SL Central in favor of an alignment next to Pioneer Park (and the Rio Grande).

[bob rulz]

In an ideal world a streetcar along 200S that runs every 3 minutes all the way to President's Circle would be great, but with the road currently being rebuilt with a bus-only lane, it doesn't feel like a priority, or necessarily an improvement. 200S is going to have a ton of bus service.

But hey, at least they have SOMETHING visionary in their plan.

My big vision is to have a streetcar running down 900 S to connect with an extension of the S-Line from Sugarhouse, which can then continue north to connect with TRAX at 400 S. Hell, maybe even find a way to run a streetcar to Guardsman and connect with the South Campus Station. That seems much more difficult though.

[rockies]

There is that one WFRC map that shows the downtown streetcar on 100S and S Temple terminating at rez park. Idk if it means anything but they update it every year



I also think they changed the local link route from going north on 11th E and turning west on 1700th E. They now show it going north on 11th and west on 9th before going north again to meet up with 900 e trax station.

[RC14]

I think, a South Temple street car would make more sense if it simply followed the existing TRAX ROW to South Temple and Main and then just continued East on South Temple.

[Paniolo Man]

The Midvalley Connector (MVX) should begin construction in the coming months.

I would like to take a moment to express my displeasure at the lack of dedicated bus lanes:

[RC14]

^
At this point, it just seems like a glorified, regular bus route.

[kickback256]

Originally Posted by RC14

^
At this point, it just seems like a glorified, regular bus route.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. All the hype with only a tiny bit of the substance.

[Nebula3lem123]

Yup, and the bus lanes are probably gonna be really weird like for OGX. Please just put bus lanes on the side of the road, its so much easier

[Paniolo Man]

I'm a little late with this one, and it isn't in SLC, though it will likely one day connect to SLC.

Moab City has formally proposed a rail station to be located along the tracks where the UMTRA project loads uranium tailings onto trains for shipment north. This development is centered around use of the site post-UMTRA.

Rail Station: Reserve space for a future Moab passenger and freight rail station along the existing
Union Pacific / UMTRA rail spur, south of the current gantry crane parking area. Request that the
existing concrete safety wall structures near the entrance to the rail tunnel be retained for future
protection of the railbench area.
The rail station would have a covered passenger siding and perhaps secure storage for temporary
freight. When rail service to Moab is under active discussion with the Union Pacific Railroad and
other entities such as the Utah Department of Transportation, consider recommending that a rail
stop at the airport also be considered and that the existing Green River passenger rail platform be
enhanced to include a sheltered, climate-controlled passenger waiting area for passengers going to
and arriving from Moab, and temporary storage for Moab-related freight.

[Nebula3lem123]

^That's very exciting, now we need some state-supported Amtrak routes to serve it!

[Paniolo Man]

Opinion: A passenger rail to Moab is long overdue

Passenger rail between the Wasatch Front and Moab would be relatively affordable, while requiring relatively little new infrastructure
By Readers’ Forum | Jan 7, 2024, 8:00am MST