UTA to study transit options for Daybreak and Draper

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Transit Authority board of trustees on Wednesday approved the hiring of engineers to study ways to connect people between Daybreak and Draper.

UTA and the Wasatch Front Regional Council will lead the $200,000 Southwest Salt Lake County Transit Feasibility Study, which will examine whether buses, bus rapid transit, light rail or streetcars are needed to connect two future stops: the Daybreak South Station, which will be along the Mid-Jordan TRAX line, and the 12800 South FrontRunner South station.

The Daybreak South Station is expected to be completed in the next year. The FrontRunner project will be completed in 2012 or 2013, but the station won't be built until there are more residents in the area.

The study will look at possible transit corridors, possible transit-oriented developments and traffic, UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter said. The entire area studied will be 11400 South to 14600 South and I-15 to state Route 111, also called the Bacchus Highway.

The study can't proceed until other city councils approve spending money to hire an engineering firm. Carpenter said that the cities and UTA are willing to shell out $200,000 combined — UTA paying $100,000, Riverton, $80,000; Herriman, $10,000; and South Jordan, $10,000.

UTA and the agencies will announce later a request for proposals in which engineering firms will compete for the study. A firm will be chosen by mid-March, and the study should take about a year.

Herriman, Draper and Kennecott's Daybreak developers also will participate in the study but not pay for it. They can contribute information about future development, Carpenter said.

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