The Rio Grande Plan for Salt Lake City - SSP's Biggest Idea

[Atlas]

After the Salt Lake County Council decided to officially support the Rio Grande Plan this week for future study, I think we are at the point now where this deserves a dedicated thread. The Salt Lake City Council also tacitly supports the Plan and the City has funded two official studies.

The Rio Grande Plan is a citizen-driven idea to reroute the heavy rail lines that cut through downtown SLC into a "train box" underground along one of SLC's infamously wide streets. The cut-and-cover trench would hold 6 tracks: three for Union Pacific, two for UTA, and one for Amtrak. Passenger trains would again stop at the historic Rio Grande Depot, built in 1910, and over 75 acres would be opened for redevelopment. 8 grade crossings would be grade separated and 2-3 blocked streets would be reconnected, allowing for greatly-improved access between the two socioeconomically-divided halves of the city.

The Rio Grande Plan was inspired by similar projects in Reno and Denver and was first proposed in 2019 on SkyscraperPage by user Hatman, and in the five years since it has grown a huge following and is now being taken seriously at higher levels of government.



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• Video Link

[Busy Bee]

Awesome.

How did I not know about this?

[Atlas]

Some developments over the past week:

• UTA released a plan to build a new headquarters that includes some new station infrastructure. This ignores the Rio Grande Plan but doesn't preclude it. They have been planning to do something like this for ages, so it's not surprising.
• The mayor's staff presented the idea of the "Green Loop" to the Salt Lake City Council. This is a great idea but partly involves rebuilding 500 West to be a linear park, which sounds great but means it could turn into a "sunk cost" and obstacle for the Rio Grande Plan.
• The SLC Redevelopment Agency staff presented the idea of a new Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zone (HTRZ) which would encompass the lands to the west of the Depot and would give a large portion of the tax increment financing to developers. This is an example of giving public money to developers because the site is otherwise not attractive enough to build on. The Rio Grande Plan, on the other hand, would remove many of the barriers that have prevented more natural investment in the area.

All three of these things are not great news for the Rio Grande Plan. However, with the recent support of the Salt Lake City Council and many hundreds letters of support to elected officials, the Rio Grande Plan is far from out of the question. This article from today puts the case succinctly.

The path to getting this done has never been straightforward!

• Video Link

[Atlas]

A subtle win for the RGP this week.

UTA's preferred route for new Trax Orange Line bypasses Salt Lake Central Station.

Planners described a consensus forming around Alternative 3, which would reroute the Trax Red Line through the Granary District while adding a new Orange Line between the SLC International Airport and the University of Utah. Notably, this alternative would see the Orange Line bypass a connection with the Frontrunner regional train at Salt Lake Central and instead run a more direct route along 400 West, where it would join existing infrastructure at Planetarium Station and meet Frontrunner at the now-Green Line's North Temple Bridge/Guadalupe transfer location.

Both Salt Lake City and the transit agency intend to redevelop the area. But its seemingly insurmountable deficiencies have led to calls to abandon Salt Lake Central and either commit to North Temple Station as the primary intermodal hub or to restore passenger services at the historic Rio Grande Depot, a citizen-led proposal known as the Rio Grande Plan.

Mike Christensen, executive director of the Utah Rail Passengers Association, said the decision to move forward with a route that bypasses Salt Lake Central is harmonious with those efforts.

"Alternative 3 would fit best with the Rio Grande Plan," he said. "Additionally, it will be wonderful having increased service to the airport and to the University of Utah."

[electricron]

Nice to read the Salt Lake City council voted for a "future" study of the Rio Grande Plan. Future? Why not just approve to do the study "now"?
I think "future" instead of "now" is just a polite way to say no.

[Atlas]

Originally Posted by electricron

Nice to read the Salt Lake City council voted for a "future" study of the Rio Grande Plan. Future? Why not just approve to do the study "now"?
I think "future" instead of "now" is just a polite way to say no.

The city internally funded a cost & impacts study in 2022-2023 that came out with the big cost numbers ($3-5 billion) and gave very little additional insights on what economic benefits could be expected. The sticker shock tempered a lot of the internal momentum at the city, as far as I can tell. However, they still are proceeding with a "Reconnecting Communities" study, which was given $2 million by USDOT in 2023, and which will include some further study of the RGP. The recommendations of this study will likely determine the fate of the Plan.

The way this project came about is unorthodox and the various municipalities and intergovernmental agencies didn't know what to do with it. The vote of the County Council has enabled some more behind-the-scenes action at places like the Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC), which is the MPO for the area.

[Paniolo Man]

Great new video:

• Video Link