Portland Day 5

The day at railvolution started off with the Community Streetcar Coalition meeting. The big news coming out this meeting was that Utah will receive a $26 million tiger II grant for construction of the Sugarhouse Trolley. So not only will we have four TRAX lines and another commuter rail line opening by 2015, we should have our first modern streetcar in the next couple of years.

In addition $200 million in new start money will be freed up with the cancellation of the ARC tunnel project that would link New Jersey and New York. The tunnel has been very controversial with even rail advocates on opposing sides of the issues.

I went to several outstanding sessions including the Impacts of Streetcars on Neighborhoods and Development, Biketopia which had some great information on how biking can effect development, Partnerships and Streetcars plus Blogging for rail.

Finally the head of the American Public Transit Association gave a speech on the status of transit today.

Ogden Transportation Study?

Image via WikipediaHere is the latest information from the Weber County Forum about the transportation study for Ogden.

Ogden Transportation Study: Currently On Track

They talk about the proposed Sugar House Trolley (but mistakenly identify it as Sandy) and ask why Ogden isn't going to beat out Salt Lake City. What the forum fears is that Godfrey's Gondola dreams might get in the way.

West Valley TRAX Ground Breaking

TRAX train in Murray at the IHC Hospital
Originally uploaded by jmdspk

Ceremony launches construction of West Valley TRAX line

Well, I missed another ground breaking ceremony. First I missed the ground breaking ceremony for the West Jordan TRAX line because of my anniversary trip which was much more important, then yesterday I missed the ground breaking ceremony because I had business obligations. Oh well I made the important Front Runner Grand Opening and there is still 3 more ground breaking's to go including the Airport line, the Draper line and Front Runner to Utah County.

It will be interesting to see what develops at the 2100 South, 1300 South, 900 South, and 500 South stations over the next few years. When all the TRAX lines are up in running those stations are going to have extensive service. While Envision Utah showed some grand plans for the 2100 South area a few years ago little has happened toward that direction except for the mixed used development at 2100 South and Main.

With all the new auto centric developments to the west of TRAX, the best hope for good pedestrian friendly development is the east side. With the addition of the Sugarhouse Trolley you could have a nice pedestrian friendly neighborhood that could connect the TRAX line with Sugarhoure. In fact TRAX could become a border from a nice pedestrian friendly area to the east and a sea of concrete to the west.

Becker Supports Streetcar

Portland Streetcar
Originally uploaded by The Impression That I Get

Here is an article from yesterday's Salt Lake Tribune about Salt Lake Mayor Ralph Becker throwing his support to get the Sugarhouse streetcar project moving faster.

There is an interesting comment from the owner of the SugeHouse BBQ. He worries about loosing parking because he is currently illegally using some one else's property to allow his diners to park. In this case it happens to be UTA former Union Pacific former Rio Grande railroad property. Now can you imagine the screaming that would go on if UTA passengers were using someone else's property to park N' ride. Seems to be a little of a double standard there. At least the owner supports the line.

There has been plenty of comments left by the peanut gallery including one that calls himself "modern transport" who calls for going back to 1950's transportation policies.

Street Car Part II

PDX0353
Originally uploaded by NeiTech

In my first post about possible streetcar routes we talked about expanding on the concept of the Sugar House trolley to make it even a more useful route.

Today's picture is little closer to home than Barcelona as it is from the Portland Streetcar in Portland, Oregon which was the first modern street car line put in.

Our next route proposal will replace part of Route 9. It will start at the Intermodal depot and travel on 600 West to 700 South to 400 West. Along 400 West it will briefly travel the route of the expanded Sugar House Trolley but then turn again on 900 South.

It will travel 900 South until 900 East were it would branch.

Branch one will continue traveling on 900 South to Guardsman Way, then travel Guardsman Way until it meets up with the Medical Center TRAX line and follow that route to the Medical Center.

Branch two will travel along 900 East, 1300 South, 1500 East, and then either turn on 1700 East to Foothill or continue on 1500 East, travel through Sugar House Park and connect up with the Sugar House line. From there it could continue to 2100 South TRAX station and make another connection with TRAX.

There is several positives about this route.

First the section of 900 South from 400 West to 200 East is ripe for quality redevelopment especially affordable transit oriented development.

Second both branches would service the 9th and 9th business center, and the second branch would service the 15th and 15th business center.

The only downside is that NIMBY's along some of the eastern half may bulk at having the streetcar.

Street Cars...

Barcelona
Originally uploaded by So Cal Metro

UTA and local citizens have proposed a streetcar running along the old railroad right of way south of 2100 South. While that would be a good start it should actually be part of a much larger system.

This photo is of a street car in Barcelona, Spain. Streetcars have proven popular in many places.

Streetcars were proposed in several places including along South Temple but it looks like UTA and the Wasatch Front Regional Council are backing off and trying to substitute BRT.

Here is one proposal to make the Sugar House Trolley a vital resource. Start at the Intermodal Station and follow TRAX to Main and South Temple using all the TRAX stops. They are close enough together in Downtown to work. Then continue down South Temple all the way to 1300 East.

Then 1300 East to 200 South to University Street then down to meet TRAX. In this section with proper planning with the U of U you could create a nice transit corridor with the streetcar running on its own right of way on the east side of the street and University down to two lanes for cars. It would then use the Stadium TRAX station and head onto 500 South.

From there it would turn on 1300 East and head south allow it to serve Westminster. Then it would turn into the Sugar House Shopping Center and hook up with the old RR right of way.

From there it would travel to the 2100 South TRAX station. From there it would travel along TRAX to the 1300 South Station. At the present time there is little reason to run it in the streets since 300 West is composed of sprawl centers not conducive to the streetcar.

Once it leaves the Ballpark TRAX station it would continue on the old UP right of way that leaves the current TRAX line just north of the station and make its way over to 400 West.

It would continue on 400 West to 200 South and then back to the Intermodal Hub.

Consider what this line would serve: the Intermodal Hub, Gateway, LDS Business College, BYU Salt Lake Center, City Creek, Temple Square, the University of Utah, Westminster, Sugerhouse Square and make multiple connections with TRAX.

This could be the springboard to bringing in more streetcars and develop more walkable communities.

Thank you to So Cal Metro who took this picture.

More on the Sugar house Streetcar

Image via Wikipedia South Salt Lakers favor streetcar link

There is something wrong with the numbers. If BRT will only cost $18 million and the streetcar will cost twice that much, something is not right. It would be interesting to see how many things are being added to the cost of streetcar system compared to the BRT since BRT cost will often be higher if you are calling for the same features.

Also to the guy that says that buses will be quieter than a streetcar, I wonder how you could come up with that conclusion? BRT means buses. Whether it would be Hybrid, CNG, or Diesel it is still a bus and is going to make more noise than a streetcar.