Garrott opposes TRAX proposal
Earlier this month, first-year Salt Lake City Councilman Luke Garrott cast the only vote against allowing a skybridge to be built over Main Street as part of the City Creek Center development.
Now, Garrott is lobbying for the planned TRAX line to the airport to run along 600 West, going against the 400 West alignment favored by vocal west-side residents and a majority of the City Council. The 400 West alignment also has been endorsed by Mayor Ralph Becker, the Planning Commission and the Salt Lake City Transportation Advisory Board.
"I know that I'm behind the curve on this one," Garrott said, "and the train may have left the station. But I couldn't live with myself if I allowed this to go forward because of the potential of a 600 West alignment done right."
Despite several public hearings and opportunities for people to weigh in on the alignment, Garrott said the decision-making process has been incomplete because no advocates for transit-oriented development have been heard from.
"This is an issue of building a neighborhood around light rail, which is something we haven't done in Salt Lake," he said.
The benefits of such development have not been seriously discussed, Garrott said. Instead, conversations have centered how to mitigate negative impacts of light rail in the area.
The City Council is expected to approve at its May 6 meeting an interlocal agreement with UTA for the airport TRAX line. The agreement notes that a preferred alignment has not been chosen and sets a deadline for that decision for Dec. 31.
Garrott said he would like the issue to remain open until the 600 West alignment can be looked at from the perspectives of neighborhood planning and economic development.
"We're rushing forward with the 400 West option because it's now the politically most expedient one," he said. "We're missing a tremendous opportunity if we don't think harder about how the 600 West alignment could work and help build that neighborhood."
A coalition of west-side residents has been actively opposing the 600 West alignment, saying it would increase traffic and crime, harm views from their homes and place another physical and sociological barrier between the city's east and west sides.
Tiffany Sandberg, a west-side resident who favors the 400 West alignment, said she understands Garrott's position, "but he's bringing it up a little late in the game."
Early last year, UTA began studying whether to move a segment of the proposed airport TRAX line from 400 West to 600 West, creating a direct connection with the intermodal hub and reducing construction costs by as much as $35 million.
Recent comments
A TRAX Bridge on 600 West would be a VAST improvement to what the...
TRAX Bridge | April 30, 2008 at 5:35 p.m.
I completely agree with Luke Garrott. We have an incredible opportunity...
Garrott is right | April 30, 2008 at 3:10 p.m.
Stenar - You are correct there are homes on the east side of 600...
Shelly | April 30, 2008 at 3:05 p.m.
