New TRAX Lines won't Eliminate Traffic
None by KCPW
2 New Routes Will Deal with Growth, but Congestion will still be a Problem
(KCPW News) Although two new TRAX lines will allow more Utahns to ditch their cars for mass transit, traffic congestion will still be problematic. West Valley City Mayor Dennis Nordfelt says population growth will continue to fuel traffic woes."We're expecting in the next 25 years that it will become even much worse. In some cases it will double or triple the time that you spend in traffic. But what we're doing with this sales tax initiative is projects that will keep the congestion from getting worse."
Nordfelt says without TRAX, commuters would definitely notice an increase in traffic congestion. UTA general manager John Inglish agrees, and says providing more transit options is part of a balanced transportation strategy.
"Our growth is going to be major over the next 15, 20 years and we could not accommodate with just highways and freeways. We've got to build in these public transit systems that will take some of this load off."
You can hear Nordfelt and Inglish speak in depth about new transit projects by downloading the Midday Metro podcast.
Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW
1. Michael T Packard BSEE said:
The comments of your guests is mostly mooonshine.
The TrAX lines will deal with the growth in traffic on the West side only if Mayor Nordfelt and Mr. Inglish spread the blood of newly killed kid goats on the rails each full moon in perpetuity. Only magic and religeous zealotry can explain this irrational response to terribe congestion on the West side. For billion$, UTA's share of all trips will remain less than 2%!!!
The three western TrAX lines have a modeled ridership in 2025 of less than 8,000 new one-way trips per day, using the FTA's most rigorous and definitive numbers.
From 2001 to 2025, the daily trips on west side roads will have grown by over 1.5 million.
UTA and the mayors perpetrate a vicious and dangerous fraud by asseting that 8,000 new linked daily, one-way, tips can meet the needs of Western valley residents who will be making 3.5 million trips per day by 2030, accoding to the WFRC Long Range Plan for 2030.
Only new freeway capacity can fill a sizable share of the shortfall that has already accumulated and that will grow like wildfire in the coming decades.
The need for new trip capacity on roads is predicted to grow 500 times faster then rail ridership, (by FTA New Start data).
Mayors and Inglish will kill the western valley with TrAX!
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