Light rail preferred option in S. Davis

FARMINGTON — A transit study focusing on southern Davis County has settled on low-cost light rail as the preferred option to help the traffic flow between Salt Lake City and Parrish Lane in Centerville.

The plan to use light rail came about during the past year, in which the Utah Transit Authority received input from community meetings, comment forms, newsletters and an interactive Web site.

The goal for the southern Davis County study was to increase mobility in the area, reduce the use of cars and expand the choices for mode of transportation.

And light rail appears to be the winner, though it's going to be another year, at least, before a draft environmental impact statement is produced.

So far, the vision is a cross between TRAX and a streetcar system owned by the city of Portland, Ore.

The light-rail vehicle would be powered by an electrified cable overhead and would run on a standard-gauge set of rails set at grade with the road and would travel in its own lane except for two places in Bountiful and Centerville.

Kerry Doane, a UTA strategic planner, said the preferred alternative also includes a bus connection from Parrish Lane to the FrontRunner commuter rail station in Farmington.

She said low-cost light rail is determined not only by the type of vehicle used in transit, but construction, engineering, station stops and all of the details that go into creating a project.

The draft environmental impact statement will include some conceptual engineering but no specific designs, Doane said.

Eventually, if the statement is favorable, UTA would apply for federal funding to construct the project.

Before that statement can get under way, Doane said, she expects to send copies of the alternatives analysis to the seven cities in the study — Farmington, Centerville, Bountiful, North Salt Lake, West Bountiful, Woods Cross and Salt Lake City — and to ask those city councils for resolutions of support.

Bountiful Mayor Joe Johnson said if rails come through his city, he wants them to be convenient for his residents.

Commuter rail may not make much sense for some Bountiful residents because they would have to fight traffic down 500 South just to get west of I-15 to the rail station in Woods Cross. By that time, they could be well on their way to Salt Lake City.

"Bring it closer to where people are going to have a desire to get on it," he said.

The preferred alternative has light rail running along 200 East in Bountiful.

Johnson said he supports the idea of having light rail in a dedicated lane. Otherwise, it's just like another bus clogging up traffic, he said.

For more information, visit www.udot.utah.gov/southdavistransit.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com

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