Block by block, Salt Lake City streets are being transformed to make way for a modern version of an old, reliable form of transportation.
Utah Transit Authority contractors began pouring concrete Tuesday on a three-block segment of downtown tracks being installed as part of the agency's light-rail mass transit system.Pouring concrete is one of the final steps in a four-month effort to place two sets of rails down 200 West, between 900 South and Paxton Avenue (1170 South). The work will be completed by the first week of December.
"Once the track slab is down they'll do the curb and gutter and then come in with the street paving," said Rick Thorpe, UTA's light rail project manager.
A one-block segment of track on Main Street, between 100 South and South Temple, is scheduled for completion Nov. 14. Work has begun on track installation in two other downtown locations - on 200 West between 700 South and 900 South, and on Main Street between 400 South and 700 South. Rail also is being placed along an existing railroad corridor between 10000 South and 1300 South.
Tuesday's activity is part of a $6-million, 10-month contract for track installation on five blocks of 200 West and on 700 South, from 200 West to Main Street. The work is being performed by Stacey & Witbeck of San Francisco.
The three-block segment of 200 West, from 900 South to Paxton Avenue, is the narrowest part of the 15-mile Transit Express, or TRAX, route. When light-rail operations begin, scheduled for March 2000, cars using 200 West will have to travel on top of the tracks between 900 South and Paxton Avenue. The speed limit for both automobiles and TRAX on 200 West will be 25 mph.
For Bob Anderson and his neighbors, the completion of work in front of their homes can't come soon enough. Anderson won't be able to park in his driveway for a few more weeks. But the 67-year-old Kennecott retiree said he has no complaints about how he's been treated by UTA and its contractor.
"These guys have done everything possible to accommodate me," said Anderson, who lives on the east side of 200 West, less than 100 feet from the tracks. "I wish it wasn't here. I wish it was over on 3rd West. But I guess progress is going to have to go. Like the contractor says, you gotta break some eggs to make an omelet."
Construction of TRAX is to cost $312 million, although the project is nearly $30 million under budget. When finished, TRAX will take passengers from 10000 South in Sandy to the Delta Center in downtown Salt Lake City. Its trek on downtown streets will begin at 1170 South and follow 200 West to 700 South, head east to Main Street, north to South Temple and west to the Delta Center at 400 West.
TRAX construction is well underway in the rail corridor, especially between 6100 South and 7800 South. That segment of the light rail line needs to be completed by April to serve as a test track for the first TRAX vehicles, expected to arrive then.
"What they're doing right now is working on some of the station platforms. The stations at 64th South and 72nd South will be the first ones that need to be completed," Thorpe said. "We've got a lot of grading and conduit work going on right now. Most of the grade crossings in that area are being installed or have already been installed."
Crews are now laying track between 6400 South and 7200 South, Thorpe said.
Work also has begun on the light rail maintenance facility, west of I-15 at about 6600 South in Midvale. The entire TRAX project is about 25 percent completed and nine months ahead of its original schedule, Thorpe said.