Deseret News | Reader comments: Foothill transit plan forgoes light rail

Reader comments
Foothill plan forgoes rail

Think Green Change! | 3:10 p.m. Jan. 7, 2009

No doubt! TRAX is so last century. We need something better, move environmentally friendly and cost effective. How about closing Foothill and turning it into a walking park and bike trail? No cars. No buses. No trains. No pollution. Much less noise. We could also close the University and downtown and demand telecommuting and walkable communities.

SLC is such a wasteland. I don't know why the council allows development and encourages cars.

What? | 5:10 p.m. Jan. 7, 2009

Is Think Green Change! being sarcastic, or just was not able to understand the article correctly?

l | 9:53 p.m. Jan. 7, 2009

Maybe they should have written on the memo line of the $20k check, don't forget trax.

Comments continue below

Trax and UTA | 4:03 a.m. Jan. 8, 2009

Why is Salt Lake reaping all the TRAX and UTA bus service? Many cities and counties in the state are paying taxes for services but so far only Salt Lake is getting the bulk of the service. The state should take over control of these 2 public transportations systems and spread the need to other cities. The UTA and TRAX are not public transportaion when it services only one city using the taxes of many cities and counties to hub all its services to downtown Salt Lake. Only Salt Lake has branch line services going to several areas of the city. We deserve an honest and trully public system before it can be effective in making it useful public transportation. Also, the fares to use the system is excessive and unjustified. Taxes built the systems and then we are taxed again to use it. It should be a cost free ride to use UTA or TRAX.

John | 6:38 a.m. Jan. 8, 2009

Trax/UTA: Last time I checked the Trax line doesn't stop at the Salt Lake city limits.
But this costly inefficient system will never be able carry the passangers of say Ottowa Canada who use a bus system that averages 250 million riders per year, very sophisticated and well planned.
On grade systems for short hauls less than four or five miles will always have to be subsidised.
As to being free, get a grip....nothing in life is free.

UTA | 9:12 a.m. Jan. 8, 2009

The reason SLC has a number of TRAX lines is because it takes a dense area in order to make rapid transit work. Last time I checked most other areas of the valley were not nearly as densely populated.

Derek Monson | 10:53 a.m. Jan. 8, 2009

So if I understand the article correctly, the Salt Lake City council commissioned a $20,000 study, and then rejected the findings because they went against the councils' predetermined views?

If the council's going to push certain transportation policies regardless of the evidence, they should at least have the decency to do so without wasting taxpayer dollars on studies that won't influence their decisions anyway.

60 MPH looking in rear mirror | 11:39 a.m. Jan. 8, 2009

Absolutely bogus! Such a sham that this "think-tank" called the "Region Council" is so terribly myopic to not include full-on rail transit development in it's recommendations. Have you ever seen the morning or afternoon rush hour traffic on Foothill drive? 95 percent of the traffic on foothill during rush hour(s)consists of one individual driving a car-AND AS A NEARBY RESIDENT I AM TIRED OF CHOCKING ON YOUR EXHAUST SANDY ET AL!! TRAXX is by far the next major upgrade for the Foothill corridor and transit to PC. I think the "region council" is a bogus, backward anachronism with ZERO validity. And before someone makes a ludicrous observation about TRAXX not being "cost effective" let me point out that countless taxpayer millions go into each and every mile of asphalt each year along this area and I'd much rather pay for clean, safe, non-polluting dependable transit line ANY day. The hubris of the Wasatach Regional Council is amazing!

AlanB | 12:03 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

John,

Ottawa's entire transportation system OC Transpo only moves 95.6 Million per year and that includes both bus and light rail, not 250 Million.

And that system, which is overwhelmingly bus orientated, still requires big subsidies too.

As a side note, right now they aren't moving anyone since the employees are on strike.

Finish the Beltway | 5:27 a.m. Jan. 12, 2009

Extend I-215 north along Foothill Dr from I-80 and then through the Avenues and tie into I-215 @ 600 N.
That will move more people faster than Trax/buses/bicycles.

Wanda | 7:49 a.m. Jan. 12, 2009

Ah, the good old City Council. I can't wait to vote for someone (anyone) else instead of J.T. Martin, Mr. Common Sense-NOT! As for you poor little rich folks living near Foothill Blvd., you knew it was a busy street when you moved/bought there, and now, like JT Martin expect the rest of the City to "fix" it on your behalf. Get a life-elsewhere!

Robert | 8:09 a.m. Jan. 12, 2009

I like very much the idea of a TRAX train to/from Park City. That is a fast-growing area, with lots of traffic bound for the University area. I'm sure it's behind many more immediate transportation solutions, but putting such a train in the plans is a smart idea.

Z | 9:26 a.m. Jan. 12, 2009

Within the next 4-6 years we will have light rail transit to:
- West Midvale, West Jordan, and South Jordan
- West Valley City
- The Airport (OK, that one is technically Salt Lake City, but it benefits everyone by increasing connectivity and decreasing congestion).
- Draper City

In the same time frame, commuter rail will come on line with stations in Murray, South Jordan/Sandy, Draper/Bluffdale, Lehi, American Fork, Pleasant Fork, Vineyard, Orem, and Provo.

Yep, it looks like Salt Lake is getting all the service.

Ditsy TRAX Pushers | 11:33 a.m. Jan. 12, 2009

Ignorance is so pervasive in understanding transportation. Pushers and ditsy City Council members crying for more TRAX lines need some remedial math and time riding buses to learn the flaws in the way UTA chooses to spend $20 billion tax dollars on transit the mostly serves downtown/U-of-U.

Draper is getting a TRAX extension to replace a bus route that only runs in the peak direction for two hours AM/PM; it carries less than 50 riders a day....that's one bus load!

The SLIA Airport Masterplan showed that cars and vans carried 99.4% of patrons and 99% of employees: that amounts to just one bus-load each in the AM/PM Peak periods, (See Table 3.30, Ridership by Time of Day)... for a rail line with a claimed capacity of 20,000 riders per hour.

West Valley's FESR TRAX study showed it would have 0.00% impact on regional congestion.

SLC is greedy and uncaring about the damage to regional transportation by dumping so many billion$ into a bone-headed All-Rails-Lead-to-SLC antiquated rail system.

All the money to build rails and highways is coming from highway users.

Transit freeloaders only pay a very small part of just the operating costs.

Greed, Ignorance, arrogance, innumeracy permeate SLC!

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