From Deseret News archives:
Rail bed to wake as an urban trail
UTA partnering with cities, Davis to transform 24 miles of corridor
One day, you may even be able to continue on from Davis County through Salt Lake County to Utah Lake.
The Utah Transit Authority is partnering with Roy, Clinton, Clearfield, Layton, Kaysville, Farmington, Centerville, West Bountiful and Davis County to turn 24 miles of railroad bed into an urban trail. UTA officials expect the trail to connect to the Legacy Parkway trail in Davis County and eventually to merge with the Jordan River Parkway trail in Salt Lake County.
The estimated $5.5 million-to-$6.5 million project runs along a Davis County spur of the Denver and Rio Grand line that may one day be used as a rail line again. But that day is 30 to 50 years away, said UTA spokesman Justin Jones.
UTA bought a 175-mile right-of-way on the D&RG from Union Pacific in 2002. Union Pacific kept the rails and the ties, but UTA owns the rail bed.
The first phase of what UTA is calling the Denver and Rio Grand Western Rail Trail will be completed in Clinton and Clearfield this summer.
"What looks like an abandoned corridor will become a beautiful pathway," Jones said. "There are people who commute from that area on bike. Having a safe trail will allow them to do that.
"In other cases, they could get on and connect with FrontRunner (a commuter rail line to be completed in 2008) or our bus system," Jones said.
The transit authority has agreements with the Davis County cities and the Utah Department of Transportation to help UTA match a federal transportation-enhancement grant. Having a group of unified cities and agencies that want to do a project may increase UTA's chances of getting the grant, Jones said.
During a Jan. 30 commission meeting, the Davis County Board of Commissioners approved $11,222 to complete just under one-half mile of the trail in unincorporated Davis County. Barry Burton, the county's assistant director of economic development, said the trail will have easy access for county residents.
"I believe that this trail will become the highest-used trail in the county, by far, and possibly the best-used trail in the state," Burton said.
To make that happen, the rail bed needs to be covered with a layer of road base and then 3 inches of asphalt, said trail-project manager Jon Cluff.
The rail bed currently consists of ballast, which is the gravel foundation beneath ties and rails. The ballast is made up mine waste that's been smelted. The smelting turns it into a glassy substance called smelter slag. Smelter slag doesn't leach contaminants into groundwater, Cluff said.
"The project will secure it even better," he said.
Fifty years down the line, if UTA finds a transportation need and decides to use the corridor for a rail line, there's still space along most of the trail to accommodate pedestrians and trains, Cluff said.
E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com
