SALT LAKE CITY — Expanding TRAX light rail trains to Lehi has been the talking point as to what the future of Utah’s Point of the Mountain will look like in the coming decades.

But what would that line look like, how much would it cost and how would that project or others in the region be funded? Those questions highlighted the latest Point of the Mountain Development Commission meeting at the Utah Capitol Thursday morning.

Utah Transit Authority officials offered two potential options to the committee for what the expanded line would look like. Both ended at 2100 North in Lehi and would cost about $1 billion to install the lines. However, nothing about the expansion is set in stone and the plans shared Thursday were preliminary, said Mary DeLoretto, director of capital projects for UTA.

UTA officials estimated an alternative analysis study for the project would take about one year to complete and cost about $800,000 — $610,000 of which has already been raised by UTA with the help of Salt Lake County, Silicon Slopes, Utah Department of Transportation, Wasatch Front Regional Council and the Mountainland Association of Governments.

“We need more data,” DeLoretto told the committee. “We need better estimates, so the alternative analysis is more of a detailed study, and we will look at more intensive modeling, determine what ridership would be, what travel times would be. What is the land use and economic development potential of those two different alignments? We’ll also look at — maybe there’s other alignments that get proposed during this study, and we’ll consider other modes.”

The agency also offered east and west route options for TRAX in the area.

The east alignment, which is estimated at $850 to $950 million dollars, would wind east of the blue line’s current final stop at Draper Town Center, then wind back west along Highland Drive before it wraps around the foothills in the area along I-15 before ending southeast of Thanksgiving Point.

The west alignment, which is estimated at $1.2 to $1.3 billion, would break off from the current blue line route at the Sandy Civic Center station. It would run west toward South Jordan, run south along the current FrontRunner line to the Draper FrontRunner Station. It’d then start moving southeast east of Bluffdale, cross I-15 and then keep the same alignment in Utah County.

A study for the project estimated the east alignment would provide transport for 36,000 to 45,700 riders per day, while the west alignment would collect 43,000 to 44,700 riders per day, according to the agency. The current timeframe for the expansion wouldn’t be until 2040 to 2050, which is about the same time UTA has looked at expanding FrontRunner north to Brigham City.

DeLoretto added UTA will have public and stakeholder input before plans are finalized. An environmental study report would come after that before any construction would begin.

While the plan is to expand TRAX around 2040, there were some concerns that’s too late. Tech companies looking to move into the area have indicated that transit is a requirement for them to move into a certain area, according to Robert Grow, CEO of Envision Utah.

“They’re not willing to locate somewhere where they’re riding transit in 20 years,” he said. “They want it sooner rather than later.”

How to fund the project

The topic of how to fund the TRAX extension and Mountain View Corridor expansion ended the meeting. There, experts pointed to potential future taxes and other tactics to raise money for the projects. The Zions Public Finance detailed ways for that to happen in a 208-page report for the committee.

Much like with the TRAX expansion discussion, nothing is finalized yet for funding. Jon Bronson, managing director of Zions Public Finance, explained to the committee different tax increases or state bond rates for the project.

The group found more than 30 different scenarios to raise money, he said. Bronson presented six different tax scenarios — three from sales tax and three from other taxes.

One of those came from the authorization from S.B. 136, which passed in 2018. That bill allowed a fraction of 1 percent to be imposed in Salt Lake and Utah counties no later than June 2023. That would raise about $70 million in its first year, Bronson said.

“That’s a big piece of the nut to crack. It’s already in statute,” he said. “It only needs to be authorized by the county council and county commission, respectively. … It’s sitting there waiting to be implemented.”

Another proposal was a new sales tax, which would produce $91 million in its first year. Another would come from the sales tax reform in Gov. Gary Herbert’s 2020 budget report, and would generate $102 million in its first year, Bronson said.

S.B. 136 also implemented the possibility of transportation reinvestment zones, which could mean property tax increases in the areas of the projects.

Then, there’s the bond route. Bronson said the state recently sold highway bonds with an interest rate at 2.5 percent, while the model used for the Point of the Mountain projects was at 3.5 percent.

“If we were able to issue all of the bonds at 2.5 percent — assuming the market didn’t change for the next eight years — we could take about $10 million off (interest costs),” Bronson explained. “I don’t think that’s something you should count on because I still think there’s movement on interest rates coming and that’s something being modified even daily by the Federal Reserve.”

Taking in Grow’s point, Draper Mayor Troy Walker urged that groups move forward with transportation plans, but cautioned that it shouldn't come at a cost.

“I hope our goal is to get the most bang for our buck — to get it now, because I think we’re behind the eight ball on transportation in a couple of years already,” Walker said. “I think the time for action has to be about now. I just hope that it’s our view, and I hope there’s a method to (this).”

Other odds and ends

The committee welcomed new Utah County Commissioner Tanner Ainge as its newest committee member. The committee also tasked Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute associate dean and director Natalie Gochnour with looking at what the committee would be useful for after it finishes Phase 3 of the Point of the Mountain plan, which is funding for future projects in the area.

If there is no extra need, the commission will likely be dissolved after the Phase 3 recommendation report is complete.

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