Salt Lake Transit News Thread

[CountyLemonade]

Originally Posted by Scraperdude801

still hoping Becker is successful in convincing the UTA to resurrect the old route of the University Line from DT to the University with no transfers. It's a real pain to have to transfer at the Courthouse and wait another 10 minutes just so you can travel a couple stops eastward. The addition of the new lines, and the resulting reconfiguration of the transfer stops, has acted like a punishment to those of us who actually live in the city.

I agree that they need to resurrect the University Line posthaste (give it a color-coded name for the sake of consistency), but there are various bus routes that connect the two areas. The 228 and the 455 run right on 400 South to the University of Utah; others run on 11th Avenue, 6th Avenue, 3rd Avenue, 1st South and 2nd South. There's even an express bus during the mornings that connects Central Station to the U.

[stayinginformed]

The station poles for the Guadalupe Station on top of the viaduct were installed yesterday, and they are (drum-roll) . . . . . . . . Blue. That means the last station left to have its colored poles installed is the Jackson/Euclid Station at 800 West--and they will be red.

[THECENTER]

FrontRunner South is scheduled to open 12/10/2012. It's going to be nice to travel between Utah and Salt Lake Country by train!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U48z...ature=youtu.be

[Stenar]

Originally Posted by THECENTER

FrontRunner South is scheduled to open 12/10/2012. It's going to be nice to travel between Utah and Salt Lake Country by train!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U48z...ature=youtu.be

GREAT NEWS!

Two years ahead of schedule!

[Old&New]

That is great news! When does the Airport line open again?

[Future Mayor]

Speaking of FrontRunner South opening. This was, I assume still is, the plan regarding area's in UT County past the Provo Station.

Payson is the eventual last stop on the current long range plan and is scheduled to be completed no later than 2025. If demand shows a need they will move the construction date for a completion time sooner than that.

An express bus is supposed to open in conjunction with Front Runner south, that starts/ends at Paysons future FrontRunner stop. It will only make three additional stops, one at Spanish Forks eventual station, one at Springvilles eventual station and finally at the Provo FrontRunner Station.

The reason UTA didn't extend to Payson with this round of construction is that just south of the Provo station is that the right of way UTA owns switches sides and a flyover bridge is required to cross the tracks, similar to the one around 98th S, behind the SLCC Miller Campus.

The express bus will allow people to effectively use FrontRunner without riding a bus through all the smaller cities on the highways. It will also allow UTA to better estimate ridership demand and when the south extention should actually begin construction.

[CountyLemonade]

Anyone know about the status of the streetcar line Sandy was contemplating between South Jordan FrontRunner and Sandy Civic Trax? I don't know if that's been discussed here before; I heard about it on a transit blog.

[Future Mayor]

I think the best thing to do initially would be to have a Trolley looking bus, that runs for free between the FR station and the Trax station. Have some of the local business sponsor the cost to run it, and have it make a loop. FR station to the north end of South Towne, then back up to the Trax station, maybe even a stop in front or Target, with a similar route that goes the other direction, both of course stopping at or near City Hall.

[chad.farnes]

Originally Posted by CountyLemonade

Anyone know about the status of the streetcar line Sandy was contemplating between South Jordan FrontRunner and Sandy Civic Trax? I don't know if that's been discussed here before; I heard about it on a transit blog.

I actually just read the same thing on the trib article (I think it was the trib, could have been KSL) comment section. It was the first time I had every heard about it

[CountyLemonade]

Originally Posted by chad.farnes

I actually just read the same thing on the trib article (I think it was the trib, could have been KSL) comment section. It was the first time I had every heard about it

Yep. That comment was by me.

[Old&New]

How about a state-of-the-art express gondola system with optional stops. This could be paid for by a multi-family housing developer, South Towne Mall, Sandy's RDA, and UTA. The land-use color scheme I used is the same scheme CCRI used for it's concept renderings of CCC, Would really make Sandy unique IMO:

[Future Mayor]

While I am sort of intriqued by your idea, I'm not sold on it yet. If I recall correctly, yellow is residential, blue is commercial, orange is retail. What is pink.

I do think that Sandy needs a little more commercial than you have on your map. Here's a concept I came up with a few years ago creating a Main St for Sandy.

I think the colors are as follows:
Red line defines "Downtown Sandy"
Purple and Yellow or vehicle access routes.
Bllue is Trax and FrontRunner, with a circulator Trolley sytem. I'm not sure I like the idea of the circulator using 106th any more though, to busy. I would rather have the circulator just use 100th S under I-15, and connected to "Main St"
I also created/extended the street grid and connected to the South towne intersection on 106th. I didn't however come up with uses yet.


I do think a gondolla would be sort of cool though. Imagine it running all the way down "Main St Sandy" to a stop near 106th.

If I'm bored at some point this weekend, maybe I'll play with some usage ideas, and redo the map.

[Stenar]

When I lived in NYC, I lived 2 NY blocks (less than half a SLC block) from the Roosevelt Island Tram. In the summer, we had a party out on Roosevelt Island at the north end in a park near the light house. It was pretty amazing.

Whenever I had friends visit me in NYC, they would eventually feel a little frazzled and overwhelmed by NYC after a few days, so I'd take them out to Roosevelt Island on the tram. It's calm and quiet there, and there's a walkway lining the entire western side of the island. We'd walk along it and look at the view and all the lights of the buildings across the way in Manhattan.

It's so fun to ride the tram there. The Roosevelt Island Tram was also featured in one of the Spiderman movies.

Here's an interesting article which is advocating Gondola Transit:

http://globalwarming-arclein.blogspo...ning-fans.html

[SLC Projects]

Downtown Sandy ( if we can even call it that ) has along ways to go and I have been disappointed during these last few years with the lack of development and/or redevelopment for that area. Having a Trolly or street car that runs down 100000 south would be a great idea. Also what if the city were to build a skywalk over I-15 to better connect the front runner station on the west side of I-15 to the sandy city center. Just brain storming here.

[Old&New]

Originally Posted by Future Mayor

While I am sort of intriqued by your idea, I'm not sold on it yet. If I recall correctly, yellow is residential, blue is commercial, orange is retail. What is pink.

Pink is retail and orange is hospitality (hotel).

[xseven]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

Downtown Sandy ( if we can even call it that ) has along ways to go and I have been disappointed during these last few years with the lack of development and/or redevelopment for that area. Having a Trolly or street car that runs down 100000 south would be a great idea. Also what if the city were to build a skywalk over I-15 to better connect the front runner station on the west side of I-15 to the sandy city center. Just brain storming here.

"Downtown Sandy" has had over fifteen years to establish itself as a downtown.

Please, never use that term again.

I'm being politely realistic, the Trolly street car you propositioned along 10000 south into South Towne Center would not be viable. Residents in the south end of the valley LOVE THEIR CARS and I cannot vision a mass-transit option in that area.

[Old&New]

They would love a gondola. Suburbanites would totally go for that, even just for the ride.

[CountyLemonade]

Originally Posted by xseven

I'm being politely realistic, the Trolly street car you propositioned along 10000 south into South Towne Center would not be viable. Residents in the south end of the valley LOVE THEIR CARS and I cannot vision a mass-transit option in that area.

Keep in mind that the main purpose of a streetcar (not trolley—those are two different things) in Sandy would be to connect the FrontRunner and Trax stations.

[Future Mayor]

Originally Posted by xseven

"Downtown Sandy" has had over fifteen years to establish itself as a downtown.

Please, never use that term again.

I'm being politely realistic, the Trolly street car you propositioned along 10000 south into South Towne Center would not be viable. Residents in the south end of the valley LOVE THEIR CARS and I cannot vision a mass-transit option in that area.

Sounds like a very similar argument that the light rail opponents continued to raise when UTA was attempting to get a tax increase to build Trax. As Country Lemonade pointed out, its main purpose would be to connect people from regional rail (FR) to more local rail (Trax). It could also benefit South Towne Center, if it incorporates a connection to the mall, reducing traffic in the area, or at least not increase traffic as the population continues to grow. Plus if Sandy does develop its downtown, including residential, it will attract those that desire an urban setting, but not a big city setting. A street car will help to attract that type of individual because it connects them to mass transit options.

The easiest way to test the success of a permanent system is to provide a somewhat inexpensive system, free to the rider that connects the three major points; FrontRunner, South Towne Center, and Trax with a few stops in between, (city hall, target). Have retailers, businesses and other organizations sponsor it on a rotating basis. (South Towne, Target, Sandy City, and maybe some of the businesses out in that City Hall area)


This is an image of the "Trolley" that ran two separate routes in Downtown Cleveland, The E line (entertainment) and the B line (business), they were paid for by local retailers and organizations and operated by the transit authority. They are free to ride.

Transit isn't always about what the current trends are, but building for the future.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by xseven

"Downtown Sandy" has had over fifteen years to establish itself as a downtown.

Please, never use that term again.

I'm being politely realistic, the Trolly street car you propositioned along 10000 south into South Towne Center would not be viable. Residents in the south end of the valley LOVE THEIR CARS and I cannot vision a mass-transit option in that area.

I was going off of what Sandy calls themselves "Downtown" But they are nowhere near having a downtown so yes I agree that is a term that shouldn't be used.

Yes alot of people use their cars on the south end of the valley, but they do also on the north, east and west as well. If that was true then what's the point of building frontrunner and trax lines down there. People down there just need to have the option. The more mass-transit the better