Quote:
Originally Posted by i-215
Highland is a better route. I don't know why planners keep thinking they should put TRAX on major auto-centric routes.
Those are HORRIBLE places for a TRAX line. You either make an unsafe area for TRAX pedestrians boarding the train, or you have to destroy the level of service on your arterial by dropping the speed limit to 30 miles per hour, which will ruin the road for cars.
To me it's much better to put TRAX on routes just off the main drag, allowing walkable villages to form on smaller, more pedestrian streets with slower speed limits. That frees up larger streets to do what they are designed to do: move cars.
Examples of poor route choice: North Temple (use South Temple), 3500 South (use 3650 South), and University Parkway BRT (use Orem 12th South). They are all parallel streets which could make a better location for future TOD development.
I'll give a pass on 5600 West BRT, figuring the new Mountain View Corridor will function as the road's auto-centric replacement.
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S Temple does not extend as far west as N Temple. is is blocked by the utility facility. Also,the heavy rail lines run on south temple, so it is not very conducive to creating a pedestrain friendly place where people are going to want to live. And N temple really stopped being a major car street when I-80 was redone ad they added an exit to the airport. You used to have to get off at Redwood and take N Temple to the airport. N. Temple is the perfect street for light rail because of the available right of way, the number of cars that travel it and it is the backbone of the Northwest area of SLC. It also has development potential that very few places in close proximity to downtown have. In addition, it is a city owned street so UDOT is out of the question.
LRT is designed to move quickly. It does not function well as a medium distance transport when it travels slow, like it does in downtown. In downtown, Trax becomes a street car. LRt needs to be located on corridors where it can reach 35-50 mph. LRT should not be used as a short distance transporter because it is insanely expensive to build this type of system. A street car is much more economical and is better choice for short distance transport and therefore can be located on streets with speeds 35 or under.