A survey by the University of Utah's Center for Public Policy & Administration finds overwhelming public support for continued investment in rail transit projects. Among 1,002 residents polled statewide, 79 percent said continued funding for rail projects either is very important or somewhat important.It's interesting how different the conservative strain is there. It's a collective thing, not a social thing. Why's it so hard to get others on board in other places?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Utah Residents Want Rail
79% is not too shabby.
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7 comments:
and they polled statewide too!!!! wow even more remarkable.
I guess once they get some of the good stuff, they want more. I've never really understood why conservatives are opposed to transit, something that conserves resources, people's money, and the environment.
Utah is a much more homogenous population (read:whiter) than the rest of the US. The racial/class stigmas of transit riders that exist across the remainder of the US are comparatively muted in SLC and Utah.
Utah is also deceptively urban (if not culturally). Most of the population lives in the I-15 Corridor so people face transportation problems that can be at least partially remedied with rail.
The unfortunate problem is FrontRunner's station is, like far away from downtown Salt Lake. It's right next to I-15, I believe. They have a light rail line to connect to downtown, but ideally the commuter rail needs to have its main station downtown and have light rail and subway lines fan out from the station to serve various neighborhoods in the city. With all the TOD going on there now, I think Salt Lake is big enough for a subway line. Provo should have light rail, and Ogden a streetcar line. And they should all be connected by FrontRunner, which should be electrified so it can serve some of the suburbs between the cities.
I agree Adam. It seems to me that it would be good if they had a subway line from the Front Runner Station to the University. That would be a good connector, good enough to encourage more people onto FrontRunner. But that is not likely to happen anytime soon. The other cities you mention should have electric rail as well. I know Ogden is in alternatives analysis now.
just saw on fortworthology that 85% of voters in the fort worth/dallas area support a regional rail plan. dallas/FW is not exactly a liberal region either...
http://fortworthology.com/
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