My Issues with TRAX

TRAX: Above ground light rail in Salt Lake City
Photograph by CountyLemonade on Flickr

Salt Lake  Trolley Map - Deseret News

Salt Lake City used to have a wide-spread trolley system, covering almost every street in the downtown area and beyond. These trolleys were open air, moved at a pedestrian friendly speed, and were entirely powered by a small hydro-electric plant located up Big Cottonwood Canyon. You could get almost anywhere in the city by hopping on a trolley and then walking at most a block or two. Because the trolleys were on almost every street people were very accustomed to interacting with them and were not dangerous or a cause for worry.

Unfortunately as the trolley systems began to wear down here in Salt Lake and in other places that they were located across the country like Baltimore, Los Angeles, Philadelphia they were allowed to fail as the country moved on to small capacity automobiles. This was, in large part, due to the influence of Henry Ford and his campaign against public transportation in order to sell his individual automobiles.

UTA TRAX Map - UTA

 Salt Lake City has made some headway in bringing back public transportation as the country realizes how detrimental and unnecessary automobiles have been, especially in the interiors of dense cities. The TRAX system was implemented in time for the 2002 olympics, and has been slowly expanding since. TRAX is great for people who must travel from one end of the valley to the other, but does not allow for people to easily travel through Salt Lake City's dense urban landscape. TRAX can get you moving towards your destination, but you will usually need a combination of car, TRAX, bus, and walking in order to make a complete trip, even for relatively short distances. Also, unlike the early trolleys we once had, TRAX is not easily accessible and is marginally less safe.