Utah's Light Rail Encourages TOD

23 April 2007 - 1:00pm

The expanding light rail system in metropolitan Salt Lake City, Utah, is giving many developers opportunities to build transit-oriented housing and retail projects, especially in the suburbs.

Sponsored Advertisement
Advertise on Planetizen

"Murray City, Utah, and developer Hamlet Homes are taking advantage of growing buyer interest in living and working near the regional TRAX light rail system, which has operated in the Salt Lake Valley since 1999. The Murray North station, one of three TRAX stops in Murray City — population 50,000 — serves as the centerpiece of a new housing development in Murray City."

"Salt Lake City and its closest suburbs built the $520 million, 19-mile, 23-station TRAX system, which carries more than 55,000 riders a day, well ahead of ridership projections. Voters have also repeatedly passed sales tax increases, including one approved last November, to spend $2.5 billion more in the next decade to complete 26 additional miles of light rail, 88 miles of heavy commuter rail line and nearly 40 extra station stops. The only American metropolitan area that is building more regional rapid transit capacity is Denver, which is constructing a 151-mile system."

"The existing 23 rail stations and the roughly 40 more stops on the way offer developers dozens of opportunities to design and build transit-focused home and business districts at the center of the Salt Lake Valley’s towns and cities."

Source: The New York Times, Apr 22, 2007