Friday, June 13, 2008

Airport Line coming...

Train on the Sandy/Salt Lake Line at the Gallivan Plaza stop in Downtown Salt Lake City headed towards SandyImage via WikipediaWell, we knew it was only a formality, but the city of Salt Lake City and UTA have signed the agreement to allow construction of the Airport TRAX line. The line will operate from downtown via North Temple to the airport. Sadly the westside's inferiority complex was allowed to make a transportation decision so the line will use 400 West instead of making a direct connection to the Intermodal Hub via 600 West.

This line will provide a critical link that will allow people to access the airport easier especially with the connection to Front Runner plus make it easier for airport employees to leave their cars at home.

Saldy, in this time of high gas prices and problems in the airline industry I cannot say that having a connection to intercity rail passenger service was important since it Amtrak service in Salt Lake is a joke.

Salt Lake City will join Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC (BWI and National), Atlanta, Burbank and St. Louis as having rail connections with the airport. LAX in Los Angeles, Miami International and Fort Lauderdale have short shuttle rides to rail transit service. In addition Seattle will be joining the list late next year.

Personally I have flown into/out of Burbank, Portland, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale using transit connections and for the most part they have worked well. For example a couple of years ago my wife and I flew into Portland, picked up our luggage walked right to the MAX light rail train, got off at our stop and walked to our motel.

Another benefit of using transit from the airports is that you do not have to drive in a strange city.

Salt Lake City mayor, UTA ink deal to extend TRAX to airport


Becker, UTA sign agreement for airport TRAX line

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2 comments:

Cap'n Transit said...

Hey, we've got airport rail connections in New York! Two out of three ain't bad.

John Dornoff said...

Yep, my bad I did forget about New York.