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Jed Boal ReportingAs Trax continues to pick up momentum, it also picked up national recognition today. Salt Lake City received a "Green Streets" award for the success of Trax.
Trax is not even seven-years-old, but it's already impressed mass transit advocates across the country. The "Green Streets" award comes from the Sierra Club in its national magazine out today.
When Trax first rolled out of the station in 1999, UTA expected success, but nothing quite like the crowded cars it fills every day at rush hour.
The 19-mile line currently draws 58-thousand riders a day, more than double the ridership that city and transit officials expected by the year 2020. For that reason, Sierra Magazine awarded Salt Lake City one of its first-ever "Green Streets" awards.
Marc Heileson, Sierra Club: "Trax was proposed, it was protested, people said it would never be ridden, people will never get out of their cars. Now Trax enjoys 58,000 riders a day and there are proposals on the table to expand it four different directions in our valley."
Salt Lake City tops the list for biggest transit turnaround.
Marc Heileson, Sierra Club: "It is an absolute 180, and the people of Utah should be proud of themselves."
Green Streets awards highlight great ideas that transform urban life by saving money, attracting business and improving the quality of life for residents.
Sierra Magazine says Salt Lake's Trax system does just that, with an eye on future expansion into the suburbs.
Marc Heileson, Sierra Club: "The Sierra Club is trying to inspire other cities around the country and saying, 'You can turn around too.' Start building communities for people rather than cars, and start having clean air instead of a brown cloud of pollution. Salt Lake right now is an example of somewhere that's going in the right direction."
Other cities awarded for "green solutions" include Minneapolis, Austin and Pittsburg. The magazine has one million subscribers and it's available at bookstores and newstands today.
