John Pingree lost his job as general manager of the Utah Transit Authority three years ago in part because of his unyielding pursuit of light-rail mass transit.
Wednesday, Pingree was rewarded for that passion."I don't think there's any dispute," said Jeff Hawker, who was named chairman of UTA's board of directors on Wednesday. "John Pingree is the father of the rail system."
In one of his final acts as chairman, outgoing chairman Jim Clark suggested -- and the board unanimously agreed -- that the name of the light-rail maintenance facility in Midvale be changed from the Lovendahl Center to the John C. Pingree Center.
It was fitting that the motion come from Clark, a Pingree proponent who stood by the beleaguered general manager and ultimately weathered perhaps the stormiest period in UTA's history to see the opening of TRAX on Dec. 6.
Pingree was then, and still is, serving a mission in Mexico for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Pingree, now 60, managed UTA for 20 years, during which the agency was twice named the best-managed transit agency of its size in North America by the American Public Transit Association.
But Pingree's management style and zeal for light rail clashed with a politically influenced UTA board, which, at that time, was quite mixed in its feelings about light rail.
The board that recognized Pingree's accomplishments Wednesday is very much in support of the 15-mile TRAX commuter train system and in favor of expanding it. TRAX has exceeded ridership projections in its first 41/2 months and recently carried its two millionth passenger.
Lovendahl, Clark said, is the name of a local family that once had a farm in the area. But the name doesn't mean much to the public, Clark said.
"It's just something that we ought to do," Clark said of the name change, which involves only the re-painting of a sign on the side of the huge building and will cost less than $1,000.
The board made other changes in addition to Hawker's election as board chairman. Jay Jensen will serve as board vice president, Bob Davis will chair the Planning and Development Committee, Walter Talbot will chair the Operations Committee and Max Hogan will become chairman of the board's Internal-External Committee.
Hawker takes the helm as UTA attempts to move forward with the $118.5 million construction of a 2.5-mile TRAX spur to the University of Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium.
UTA has received preliminary approval from the Federal Transit Administration to build the project but does not yet have a monetary commitment from the feds, who would fund 80 percent of the project costs.
Board members Wednesday reaffirmed their willingness to risk up to $3 million on the hope that the transit administration will give the go-ahead for the University TRAX spur. Most of that money will be spent between now and June as the University TRAX contractor designs the project and prepares for construction.
"We're continuing to hear good reports in Washington about this project," said Michael Allegra, UTA's director of transit development.
Also Wednesday, the TRAX engineering team of Carter Burgess, BRW/DMJM and Parsons Brinckerhoff was presented with the Grand Conceptor Award from the Consulting Engineers Council of Utah for its work on the TRAX project.
You can reach Zack Van Eyck by e-mail at zman@desnews.com