Work begins on airport TRAX line

Construction crews began heavy work Wednesday morning to build the six-mile light-rail track that will connect downtown to the Salt Lake City International Airport.

Workers for Stacy and Witbeck Inc. and Kiewit Western Co., which are working for the Utah Transit Authority on the $300 million project, are clearing away vegetation and stabilizing the grade over a wetlands area. The track will run on a combination of city and airport roads, as well as on land adjacent to roads, according to UTA plans.

Crews will also place geotextile mats over the soil, lay reclaimed concrete over the mats, and then dump between 3,000 and 4,000 truckloads of soil on the corridor. That's before laying ballast "railroad" stones and track, said Matt Sibul, UTA project manager for the airport TRAX line.

Drivers should expect trucks merging and exiting North Temple and airport access roads for the next couple of years. The airport line is expected to open in late 2012 or early 2013.

"The travelling public should slow down and maybe give themselves extra time to get to the airport," Sibul said.

For now, crews are working on a two-mile stretch of land adjacent 2400 West and North Temple. Crews will eventually begin working on track on North Temple and on airport roads. They will also be on the streets to build a FrontRunner commuter-rail transfer station at roughly 500 West and North Temple from which FrontRunner passengers can take the airport TRAX line.

Mass transit users will also be able to hop the airport TRAX line from the existing Arena TRAX station at 301 W. South Temple, but will not be able to access the line from the Salt Lake Central Station, also known as the Intermodal Hub, at 250 S. 600 West. That's because Salt Lake City and its residents requested the airport TRAX line run along 400 West instead of 600 West, before it heads west on North Temple, UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter said.

About 13,500 people work at the Salt Lake airport, while thousands more use it for travel. When the line opens, UTA expects 9,000 to 10,000 passengers a day, Sibul said.

"We're looking at a mix," he said. "It's probably half-and-half" airport employees and travelers.

Light-rail trains will probably run to the airport every 15 minutes, Sibul said.

e-mail: lhancock@desnews.com