At this point I feel it is important to re-post a suggestion by Tygr, made back in May on the
Salt Lake Transit Thread:
The solid pink line is the alignment TRAX would take to a stop in the parking garage. Tygr's idea was to have the TRAX line
not cross the road at all, but instead stick to the outside of the road and have a station at the airport terminal itself.
Here's a direct quote from the linked article that suggests to me that this is exactly what the airport, UTA, and SLC are thinking:
Quote:
Benson said Tuesday that an “at-grade” extension previously wasn’t contemplated because it would impinge on taxiways on the north side of the facility, and previous Airport Director Maureen Riley had “said it wasn’t acceptable.”
Biskupski told the council the city had gone “back to the drawing board” after Riley’s retirement this summer, under interim Director Russell Pack.
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(
Emphasis added)
It is worth noting that in Tygr's proposal the TRAX line would have to be squeezed in between the roads and bridges to the south, and the taxiway to the north. I would guess that they figured out a way to eek out enough space to fit in TRAX, perhaps by going down to a single track. Since it is the end of the line, I really wouldn't mind if they went down to a single track all the way into the station. This is the way light rail is operated at
Portland's airport, after all.
It's also worth mentioning the trade-offs for this proposal. Tygr, Jubguy, and I discussed these on the transit thread a while back.
Pros:
1) It is cheaper
2) It puts TRAX access at the terminal, rather than the parking garage
Cons:
1) It bypasses the welcome center in the parking garage
2) Because the airport is 3 levels and TRAX would be on the bottom level, there may be some additional expense in building elevators/escalators/stairs to the upper two levels. Perhaps the airport could cover these costs, since it wouldn't be explicitly for transit.
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