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John Daley There's another sign of the success for light rail along the Wasatch Front.
For the first time, the Utah Transit Authority is preparing to build new stops on its north-south line.
The TRAX light rail system just keeps growing and growing. New lines are in the works which will extend TRAX west and south. And soon we'll see two brand new stops, including at 900 South and 200 West in Salt Lake.
It's two stops, two stories. At 9400 South, Sandy city leaders passed when offered a stop here when the line first opened. Since then, with Jordan Commons and the South Towne Expo plenty busy, they've changed their minds and now want a stop.
At 900 South, Salt Lake planners always wanted to put a stop in but lacked the money. Now the demand is there, and the money has been lined up too, so construction will begin soon. And for the first time UTA will add mid-line stops.
"These stops will add a lot to the TRAX system and yet not take away from a lot of the time it takes to get downtown."
Each stop will add only a minute to the commute, allowing TRAX to stay competitive with I-15.
Ridership numbers keep chugging along. The projection for the north/south line was 11-thousand riders a day. For the east/west, it was 6-thousand.
Now UTA is seeing 38-thousand riders: 22-thouand daily on the north-south line and 16-thousand east/west.
Those numbers could grow. At 900 South, a brand new 29-unit apartment complex just opened up. The city hopes with new shops and stores, the walkable neighborhood will be a real draw.
D.J. Baxter/ Senior Advisor to Mayor: "Of course, that's exactly the kind of thing we'd like to see develop in the city are little community nodes where people can live close to a transit access point and use transit for most of their daily trips."
An apartment-hunting college student is pleased to hear about the new stop.
Reporter: "Did you know they are going to put a TRAX stop in there?"
Jeremy Goodson/Apartment Hunter: "That'd be good, especially if I move in here."
Reporter: "So what do you think about the new TRAX stop coming in here?"
Mike Gehring/ 900 S. Resident: "I think it's excellent. Otherwise, you've got to walk five, six blocks that way."
The cost of a new stop is roughly half a million dollars. Both are expected to be up and running and taking customers by the end of the year.
