SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Transit Authority is considering an expansion of its TRAX light-rail system to Lehi, Utah, roughly 12 miles south of the current end of the system in Draper — a project that could cost $1.2 billion or more, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
The concept is a change from repeated promises by the agency to focus more on expanding and improving bus service. It is prompted by development plans at a soon-to-be-closed state prison site, Point of the Mountain, in Draper, about 20 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Mary DeLorretto, the authority’s director of capital projects, tells the paper the extension to Lehi, long part of the TRAX plan, is being revived because of requests from the Point of the Mountain Development Commission, created by the state legislature to maximize development plans at the prison site. All such plans require improved roads or better transit.
The transportation authority and other agencies will help fund an $800,000 study of the possible TRAX expansion. Two possible routes are under consideration, both of which would connect TRAX to the Front Runner commuter rail station in Draper as part of the expansion.
Depending on the options chosen, the extension could be operating as soon as late 2023 or as late as the end of 2026.
