Salt Lake Transit News Thread

[H4vok]

Originally Posted by CountyLemonade

It'll be quite useful when Daybreak is built-out in twenty years.

The Daybreak North Station is actually my station You'd be surprised how quickly housing/development is heading in that direction. My place was on the most western edge of development in Daybreak about a year and a half ago. Now, houses have been built passed me and to the west in just a short amount of time.

At the rate stuff is being built out here, I would guess houses/development will be reaching the Daybreak North station in maybe 3 to 4 more years (depending on how the development phases it).

[Future Mayor]

Originally Posted by RC14

^
Amen, and from there the 'white line' should continue to the airport.

Unfortunately that won't happen, because it would have to travel to 400 W and over the viaduct, which would just be duplicating the Green line.

[stayinginformed]

Maybe they could change things up a bit and have two different lines that start in West Valley--the Green which will run to the airport every 30, then have a black line that runs from West Valley to the U every 30 minutes. So they alternate every 15 minutes.

From the U they could have three lines--Black going to West Valley every 30 minutes, the White line running to the Airport every 30 minutes, and have the Red line to Daybreak every 15 minutes.

By having the West Valley Line alternate between the U and the Airport, there would be one less train running downtown at that time, and the White Line to the airport could run without overloading the system.

[Future Mayor]

Until 4th South develops much taller on each side, I don't think there will be the demand to run more than the red line to the U. The reality is, that while we would all like a direct line from either the airport or SL Central to the U, with any mass transit system, not all points can be directly connected, there are always going to be transfers involved.

[stayinginformed]

Having the direct line to the U seems to be one of the priorities of the city council. Maybe they can get the direct line to the airport for getting rid of the free fare buses downtown.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by H4vok

The Daybreak North Station is actually my station You'd be surprised how quickly housing/development is heading in that direction. My place was on the most western edge of development in Daybreak about a year and a half ago. Now, houses have been built passed me and to the west in just a short amount of time.

At the rate stuff is being built out here, I would guess houses/development will be reaching the Daybreak North station in maybe 3 to 4 more years (depending on how the development phases it).

Yea from the long term map I saw of the over all vision of daybreak it looks like the North Station will one day be the center of everything. I just looks weird now being in the middle of nowhere. The map I saw has taller buildings to what looks like a city center or something like that.

[gusam26]

the frontrunner south started testing. I saw it running yesterday in lehi

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by gusam26

the frontrunner south started testing. I saw it running yesterday in lehi

That is great news. Here's hoping that the people in cars down in Happy Valley are a bit more smarter then us up here when it comes to stopping at the train crossings.

[tygr]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

That is great news. Here's hoping that the people in cars down in Happy Valley are a bit more smarter then us up here when it comes to stopping at the train crossings.

I'm not holding too much hope.

On another note:
It's unfortunate that UTA wasn't at least a year ahead of this completion. It seems that this is a repeat of when the north FrontRunner line opened. Within a month or so of beginning service, Legacy Parkway opened. And, here we are again, just as service will begin, I-15 CORE will be complete.

If they could have opened last December, I think they could have capitalized on the inconvenience of the reconstruction to gain a broader base of long-term passengers that wouldn't consider FrontRunner otherwise.

[Future Mayor]

If I'm not mistaken, isn't every crossing grade seperated on Front Runner South?

[billbillbillbill]

Originally Posted by Future Mayor

If I'm not mistaken, isn't every crossing grade seperated on Front Runner South?

I know a lot are. I am not very familiar with Utah County but in Murray, 4800 S., Vine Street, and 5900 S. have crossings. Also in Sandy, 10000 S. going to Sandy City Hall is at grade.

I remember reading they were applying for some quiet zones in Murray and in Lehi to not have to honk at the intersections.

[billbillbillbill]

Originally Posted by tygr

I'm not holding too much hope.

On another note:
It's unfortunate that UTA wasn't at least a year ahead of this completion. It seems that this is a repeat of when the north FrontRunner line opened. Within a month or so of beginning service, Legacy Parkway opened. And, here we are again, just as service will begin, I-15 CORE will be complete.

If they could have opened last December, I think they could have capitalized on the inconvenience of the reconstruction to gain a broader base of long-term passengers that wouldn't consider FrontRunner otherwise.

I agree that it will hurt them in the short term. I know funding is lacking but I wish they would finalize the Orem to Provo BRT along University Parkway and whatever street to Provo Mall. Once they cut all the commuter buses from Sandy down to UVU & BYU, riding Frontrunner down to Orem and having to transfer to a slow local bus might hurt numbers too if this fast freeway is available. I know they are revising the bus system down there. I guess we will wait and see.

[Zionide]

Originally Posted by scottharding

The Central Station really is kind of useless.

In addition to Frontrunner South, Central Station will also be more useful once the downtown streetcar runs from it down 400 West to 900 South, and once the empty parcels to its east are finally developed (the RDA owns much of those blocks).

[Future Mayor]

Originally Posted by Zionide

In addition to Frontrunner South, Central Station will also be more useful once the downtown streetcar runs from it down 400 West to 900 South, and once the empty parcels to its east are finally developed (the RDA owns much of those blocks).

That is the LONG Range plan for downtown street car. But you are right in that it will help, the first phase will be SL Central to 200 S to 200 E, to 100 S (Harmons)

[xseven]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

I think the daybreak north station is kind of useless as of now.

If you build it, they will come...

[redzeppelin]

Originally Posted by Future Mayor

If I'm not mistaken, isn't every crossing grade seperated on Front Runner South?

I think that some crossings, notably in Lehi, will be at-grade for now. Main, 200 S, 300 S, 500 W and Center have all had at-grade crossings forever. They might get away with closing 300S, but the others are all important streets and I haven't heard anything about plans for them (I also haven't been there for a while). There was some talk a few years ago about excavating an underpass to send Main Street below the tracks, but I don't think anything came of it. I think that Pioneer Crossing took enough pressure off of Main that the underpass idea was shelved. I used to live right by the tracks in central Lehi. The freight trains would blow their whistles at all of those crossings going through town at all hours of the day and night. Seems like there were usually 10-12 per day, with about half of them being during the night. It was very jarring at first, but we learned to sleep through them within a week or so.

Edit: Just checked Google Maps, which has some recent high-res photography of Lehi. It seems that they did indeed close the 300 S crossing, and the other 4 that I mentioned are all at-grade. As a bonus, it looks like the curernt pictures of Lehi were taken on the day of the annual Lehi Round-Up parade. You can see the crowds all along the parade route, and you can even see the some ot fire trucks, marching bands, horses and other parade entries. Good times in Lehi.

[stayinginformed]

Here is the preferred alignments for Phases 2A and 2B of the Sugar House Streetcar.

[Future Mayor]

Interesting. I've been proposing the 11th east alignment for years. IMO there are two extension choices from that point:

1) Continue up 11th E to 9th S west on 9th South to 6th East, then north to a 200 S line. (The benefits to this alignment is it would serve the many businesses along 11th east and the entire 9th S stretch of businesses)

2) Head west on 17th S to 9th E, north to 9th S, west to 6th East, then north to a 200 S line (The benefit to this line is it would offer a lot of residents street car access to a grocery store, Fresh Market, and serve the businesses along 9th E.)

[stayinginformed]

It makes me sad that we once had all of these streetcar lines. Could you imagine how differently Salt Lake would have developed if they had been kept and run continuously, with additions throughout the years?

[gusam26]