UTA pick: a Jordan TRAX spur by 2009

MIDVALE — The Utah Transit Authority plans to build a 10-mile TRAX extension from Midvale to Kennecott's Daybreak community, and construction could begin as soon as 2009.

A lot has to happen between now and then, with perhaps the biggest concern being how to fund the estimated $300 million project.

But UTA moved one step closer to making the light-rail spur a reality Friday as it opened a 45-day public comment period for its draft environmental impact statement.

UTA will hold a public hearing/open house to receive public comment on the draft EIS on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 4-8 p.m., at West Jordan City Hall, 8000 S. Redwood Road.

The document, required by the federal government before work can begin, recommends light rail as the transit option of choice.

"That has been recommended in the EIS as the best alternate," said UTA project manager Greg Thorpe. "We looked at enhanced bus. We looked at diesel multiple-units and also (the effects of taking) no action.

We figured the bus rapid-transit wouldn't work on the same corridor."

The Daybreak line is one of several proposed light-rail projects serving western Salt Lake County that have been vying for UTA's attention. Among the others is West Valley City's hopes of building a line to its city center area, which it plans to redevelop into a residential-governmental-commercial mixed-use area. City leaders have hoped the redevelopment would center around an intermodal transportation hub hinging on TRAX.

But West Valley's assistant city manager Paul Isaac said he was not surprised that the Mid-Jordan line is the subject of the current thrust.

"We actually expected this to happen," he said. "We're just hoping to get a piece of this someday."

Midvale's Mayor JoAnn Seghini said that Kennecott Lands, and the Midvale, Murray, West Jordan, South Jordan and Daybreak communities put money together, based on population, to fund an Environmental Impact Study and the final EIS. That funding, along with the already existing track, gave the Mid-Jordan line an upper hand in UTA's selection, she added.

"I think UTA has been looking at existing tracks on all the possible east-to-west tracks," Seghini said. "The fact that Kennecott Lands and these cities worked to pay for it made it possible for them to move a little bit more quickly."