Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Utah Transit Authority is exploring an expansion of its light rail service with a new orange line aimed at enhancing transit access in Salt Lake City by the 2034 Winter Olympics.
- Among four options, Alternative 3 stands out for its benefits, including a projected $390 million cost.
- The plan envisions linking the University of Utah to the Salt Lake City International Airport with new stations downtown.
SALT LAKE CITY — The future of light rail within Salt Lake City may soon include more service on 400 West and at the University of Utah, as state transit officials seek to expand access in Utah's growing capital.
One of the four possible scenarios for the future fourth TRAX line outlined in Utah Transit Authority's TechLink TRAX Study has risen to the top largely because of its benefits. If all goes to plan, agency officials say it could be operational in time for the 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Utah.
"This project is a priority for UTA with respect to the Olympics," said Patti Garver, UTA's manager of environmental compliance and sustainability, as she provided Salt Lake leaders an update on the study during a meeting on Tuesday.
Shaking up TRAX
All four scenarios in the project call for a new orange line running from the University to Utah's Research Park to Salt Lake City International Airport, adding new stations along Mario Capecchi Drive and Arapeen Drive by the campus. All four options also call for new service downtown via 400 South and 400 West.
However, all signs point to an option called Alternative 3 since those options were unveiled in March, according to Alex Beim, manager of long-range and strategic planning for UTA.
It calls for an expansion of the line along 400 South that currently turns south when a train coming from the university reaches Main Street. The line would instead continue west to 400 West, where the trains would go in opposite directions.
UTA's Alternative 3 proposal
- Red line trains would turn south at 400 West, passing through the Granary District to reach Ballpark Station (1300 South) before traveling south to Daybreak in South Jordan.
- Orange line trains would turn north at 400 West to connect with the Planetarium Station before reaching the existing green line route, which leads west to the airport.
- New 400 South stations would be built at West Temple and Pioneer Park for both lines, while a new station at 400 West and 300 South would be added to the orange route. The red line would gain new stops along 400 West at 600 South and 800 South, as well as 300 West by Brooklyn Avenue (1025 South)
- Blue and green routes would be swapped. The blue line would run from the airport to Draper and the green line would run from Salt Lake City Central Station to West Valley City.
Projected weekday ridership and access to the train remained about the same between the four alternatives, while all four also would likely serve either existing or potential future development and redevelopment, Garver said.
Alternative 3, however, offered three key benefits that helped it stand out. Its proposed route design would allow the orange line to run end-to-end four minutes faster than the other options even though its speed — a key factor in noise impacts — would run slower than the rest.
Perhaps most importantly, its projected capital cost of $390 million would be the least expensive option, $60 million cheaper than any other proposed alternative. Its annual operation and maintenance costs are slightly lower than the rest, as well.
It also fared well during the public feedback period because the route wasn't as wonky as the others.
"We heard from a lot of folks that they preferred a more direct alignment that did not go out of direction to connect into the Salt Lake Central Station," Beim said, adding there's still a future option to add connections between 400 West and Salt Lake Central Station.
Salt Lake City Council members were generally supportive of the plans presented on Tuesday, but there were questions, including how the red and orange lines would connect with the blue and green lines in the future.
Currently, southbound red line trains connect with the blue and green lines at Courthouse Station as they begin their journey to Daybreak. Under the proposed design, the easiest way to do this is to exit at the new West Temple station and walk about a block or two to the station.
"Having those options where the three lines intersect has always been really important to me usually because I was traveling with small children, so I didn't want to be in a space where I had to walk multiple city blocks, trying to carry my bags and hold onto different little hands," said Salt Lake City Councilwoman Sarah Young. "Wherever it's possible to have those types of hubs ... it's such a game-changer."
The potential of 24/7 service is also being explored, but that would require some sort of solution to lift the challenge currently blocking that regular option right now. UTA shares the lines south of the 1300 South agreement with Utah Railway, allowing it to pull freight in the early morning hours.
Light rail cars are stored and maintained at UTA's Jordan River Rail Service Center, located near 2200 South.
The next steps
Beim said UTA is currently in the process of refining the alternative, which is one of the last steps in the planning process before moving forward with a final plan and seeking ways to carry out construction. That's where issues like station locations and transfer points to the blue and green lines could be cleared up.
Garver said she believes the final recommendation will be ready for a UTA board of trustees vote sometime in the coming months. Once approved, it will go through an environmental review process before a final design is compiled. The agency will seek out funding options during this time, which may include state and federal funding through Salt Lake City's Olympics host city status.
Construction could begin as early as 2029 and potentially end in 2032, based on UTA's current timeline.
While the goal is to have the service operational by the Olympics, Beim points out that the project aims to serve the growing city regardless of the global event.
"Nothing that we're doing is just because the Olympics are coming," he said. "It's because we need all these things and plan to use them either before and/or after the Olympics."
