Salt Lake Officials Push for Rail to Airport

Forget traffic: In 10 years, residents along the Wasatch Front will be able to hitch a ride on a commuter train, luggage in tow, all the way to the airport, without ever stepping into a car.

The Salt Lake County Council and county mayors on Tuesday laid the groundwork to build a network of rails over the next 10 years that will span the Salt Lake Valley, by endorsing a list of projects that will be funded through a quarter-cent sales-tax hike that voters approved in November.

The officials hanged priorities recommended in a list of 34 projects compiled by the Wasatch Front Regional Council and approved funding for four projects, three of which are mass transit.

In total, $2.5 billion will be spent on commuter rail, TRAX lines to West Valley and South Jordan, and on repairs to Interstate 80 from State Street to 1300 East. Officials with the Utah Transit Authority said Tuesday that funding those projects also will free other dollars to build TRAX lines to the Salt Lake City International Airport and to Draper.

The West Valley line will require $700 million to build, with the sales-tax money covering $450 million of that cost. The Mid-Jordan line will be about $750 million, which will all come from the sales-tax increase. Commuter rail will cost about $1.3 billion to build, with all of the cost covered by the sales tax. The improvements to I-80 will cost about $128 million, with $30 million coming from the sales-tax increase.

UTA general manager John Inglish promised the agency will build all four TRAX lines and commuter rail in the next seven to 10 years. Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon said that securing funding for all these projects couldn't come at a better time.

"We're at a crisis stage right now," he said. "This really resolves a lot of the issues."

The County Council is scheduled to meet Thursday and approve the projects that will be funded with the sales-tax revenue, as well declare its intent to impose the tax next year.

If the council decides to approve the projects and impose the tax, UTA will prepare for construction of four TRAX lines and commuter rail. The agency will acquire property for park-n-ride lots, arrange for relocation of utilities and put out bids for rail cars and other materials.

"This means we have a lot of work to do, and we're committed to it," said Mike Allegra, chief capital-development officer for UTA. When built, the transit lines will put 70 percent of county residents within three miles of a TRAX station, he said.

While most county leaders were on-board with funding commuter rail, I-80 and TRAX, two mayors voted against the plan. Taylorsville Mayor Russ Wall and West Jordan Mayor Dave Newton said they were upset that the state Legislature forced the county to consider roads and commuter rail for funding instead of light rail only.

Commuter rail was considered for funding after Utah County residents this past November approved a separate quarter-cent sales-tax hike to build commuter rail from Provo to the Salt Lake County line. The original intent of Salt Lake County leaders was just to fund four TRAX lines.

"It seems like the whole thing is a sham in a way," Newton said. "I think the process was flawed."

He added that Salt Lake County leaders spent months developing a process to rank the transportation projects to see what should be funded, only to ignore the process and pick projects they really wanted.

During a public comment period on Tuesday, two residents questioned whether spending money on transit was the best way to relieve congestion. Michael Packard, a transit opponent from Sandy, said that money would be better spent on roads.

"The basic question is: 'Are these transit projects significant?'" Packard said. "They are not. Freeways are the only answer."

But not for county Councilman Joe Hatch, who is a vocal supporter of transit. "All you have to do is look at the bottom line: 97 percent of those funds are going to transit," he said. "How could I not be a happy camper with that?" E-mail: ;

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