This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
West-siders, desperate for TRAX but leery the Legislature may toss the trains in favor of roads, can relax.
New light-rail routes through West Valley City and West Jordan-South Jordan "are a lock" by 2014, transit stakeholders told The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board Friday.
So, too, is FrontRunner commuter rail, which would traverse Salt Lake and Utah counties - provided both places pass proposed tax hikes next month.
But due to meddling from state lawmakers, even if Salt Lake County voters pass a quarter-cent sales-tax increase, they may be driving to the airport for decades to come. And residents hoping to zip out to Draper's planned LDS temple by train can forget it. That TRAX spur may have to wait.
The panel suggested the light-rail line to Salt Lake City International Airport is "problematic" for philosophical reasons, namely critics who insist the rail route does little for "congestion mitigation," one criterion for the tax.
Confusion over the transit list heightened this week when legislative leaders canceled a session to rank the projects before the Nov. 7 election.
Critics say the recalcitrance on Capitol Hill - reasons include House Speaker Greg Curtis' trip to China and Senate President John Valentine's squeamishness over his leadership contest - runs counter to the initial intent to extend light rail with some form of tax.
Originally, Salt Lake County Council approved an $895 million property-tax proposal for the ballot that would fund all four planned TRAX spurs - if voters signed on (and polls showed substantial support).
Then the Legislature called for a shift to the sales tax, inserted itself into the project-selection process and mandated that a chunk of money go toward land for roads.
So now, those TRAX lines may be pitted against one another as parties line up to lobby for their respective rails and roads.
Despite that potential tug of war, insiders from Envision Utah, the Salt Lake Chamber, Sierra Club and the county's Council of Governments have joined transit leaders to push for passage of Proposition 3.
"Only once or twice in the history of a generation do we get the chance to change the future," pleaded Robert Grow, founder of Envision Utah, a public-private planning partnership. "If we don't pass this, we go from a leadership position to being behind in the Intermountain states."
A defeat of the sales-tax measure, noted Proposition 3 campaign manager Jim Bennett, would be "telling the Legislature this is not a priority."
The panelists conceded they were "quite frustrated" with state lawmakers for choosing to keep voters in the dark, but argued the overall vision for the sales tax is sound.
It's "not perfection," said Utah Transit Authority attorney Bruce Jones, but better than the status quo.
Still, grounding the airport route appears unpopular.
"It serves probably the largest portion of Salt Lake County," Salt Lake City Councilman Eric Jergensen said Friday. "It makes all the sense in the world to have that line done."
His council colleague, Carlton Christensen, insists the spur is a priority for people riding commuter rail, which is planned to run from Ogden to Provo.
"Unfortunately, some legislators might think of it as a tourist thing when, in fact, it is critical from a regional standpoint," he said.
Christensen remains hopeful the airport and UTA can raise enough dollars for a federal match to get the line built by 2015.
Resistance to tapping public money comes from the Utah Taxpayers Association, which is convinced the airport line simply is a luxury for tourists and business travelers and does nothing for congestion relief.
"We have so many needs with regards to transportation," said Mike Jerman, the group's vice president. "Nice shouldn't be a priority."
If Proposition 3 passes, the Council of Governments will select the projects, first scrutinized by the Legislature. But, ultimately, the County Council must sign off.
Should the airport line get cut, County Councilman Joe Hatch is threatening a crusade.
"If those three lines [West Valley City, West Jordan-South Jordan and the airport] are not on the final list," Hatch said, "I will do everything in my power to get the County Council to veto the project list."
Meanwhile, Hatch wishes the transit backers had more spine.
"I wish the strong supporters would stand up [to lawmakers] and quit saying, 'We don't want to offend anybody,' " he said. "Why? They offend you all the time."
In any case, Draper's TRAX line appears doomed - "It's definitely more up in the air now," conceded Mayor Darrell Smith - though FrontRunner could prove an adequate fill-in.
"It goes 80 miles an hour and there's only three stops" to downtown Salt Lake City, said UTA's Mike Allegra. "It's a lot quicker."
Unless voters put on the brakes.