Sommerkorn admits, however, that commuter rail won't make much difference in traffic volumes. And one Utah resident is banking on that observation to slow the progress of commuter rail.

Michael Packard, a Sandy engineer and longtime opponent of UTA, says commuter rail will pollute the air and steal money from taxpayers. Commuter rail will have diesel engines that emit the pollutant nitrogen oxide.

"It's just a waste and UTA will run it just like they're running millions of miles of empty buses," he said. "It is just insane to be dumping that kind of money into UTA."

Cost of the project is estimated around $500 million. Projections for opening-day ridership is estimated around 5,900 per weekday. TRAX averages 44,000 riders on weekdays.

For more information, visit: www.rideuta.com.

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E-MAIL: nwarburton@desnews.com