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trolley at Warm Springs

Mass transit arrived in Salt Lake City in 1872, when a mule pulled the first streetcar down tracks laid on Main Street (Brigham Young himself took the first ride). Within a few years, the Salt Lake City Railroad Company was running 41 cars on nine miles of tracks.

One line took bathers to Warm Sulphur Springs, at what is now north 300 West. People used the bathhouse, built in 1850, for changing clothes but also for dancing and enjoying other entertainments.

Trolley with men

Given the speed of mules, mass transit did not mean rapid transit. But when the company electrified one line in 1889, things sped up. People watching a streetcar pass "stared as though an apparition were flying by." This 1895 photo shows two uniformed drivers standing by an early electric car.The early streetcars sometimes got stuck on humps in the tracks. When that happened, passengers and crew piled out to rock the car over the hump.

track construction

TRAX construction at the turn of the 21st century may be a hassle for Salt Lake drivers, but it pales compared to tracks construction at the turn of the 20th century. By 1900 the valley had more than 100 miles of tracks, with more being laid all the time. Here a track gang--apparently from the state prison--works at the intersection of Fourth South and State Street in 1903. Obviously, the city has changed some since then.

track construction

Construction at South Temple and Main Street . A close look at the photo and a little research can tell us when it was taken. The Brigham Young Monument went up in 1897, and the Deseret News building came down in 1910 to make room for the Hotel Utah. But what really pinpoints the photo is the Brigham Young Memorial Building under construction (where the cascading fountain east of the LDS Salt Lake Temple is now); it was built in 1902-1903.

two trolleys passing

Fun-seekers rode the streetcars to parks and resorts. These cars ran between Calder's Park (now Nibley Golf Course, on 2700 S. 700 East) and Warm Springs. The photo probably shows them on 700 East. Here, in order to pass each other, the cars had to meet at a small section of double track.

a trolley in the repair barn

Fun-seekers rode the streetcars to parks and resorts. These cars ran between Calder's Park (now Nibley Golf Course, on 2700 S. 700 East) and Warm Springs. The photo probably shows them on 700 East. Here, in order to pass each other, the cars had to meet at a small section of double track.

final trolley run, 1941

In the end, busses and private automobiles--and road projects built with federal and state taxes--doomed the trolleys. One by one, the trolley routes became bus routes, the overhead wires came down, and street crews paved over the tracks. In 1941, car number 712, bedecked with a flowered wreath, made a "final" nostalgic run. The run turned out to be not so final, however. Because of gasoline shortages during the war, a few trolleys continued running until 1945.





The use of public transit dwindled after World War II as people bought automobiles and drove them on federally funded roads. Public transportation in Utah didn't again become a priority until the late 1960s. Just prior to the 1974 energy crisis, in 1969, the legislature passed a bill allowing individual cities to address transportation needs by forming local transit districts. That same year, voters from Salt Lake and the surrounding communities of Bingham, Midvale, Murray , and Sandy voted overwhelmingly to form a public transit district. The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) was formed on March 3, 1970.

Since then, UTA has expanded its operations to include express bus routes, paratransit service, and carpool and vanpool programs in six counties and more than 60 municipalities. In 1999, UTA re-introduced electric railcars in the Salt Lake Valley , calling its new light rail system TRAX, short for "transit express."

TRAX might be reminiscent of early 20th-century streetcars, but a TRAX car, in comparison to a 1913-edition Emigration Canyon Railroad oak and steel car, is 34 feet longer, three inches narrower, and able to carry 210 people--three times more than the old cars could carry. Also, TRAX light rail vehicles are made of not only steel, but also of plymetal and plastic.

Since opening TRAX, UTA has seen ridership steadily increase. Nearly 20,000 riders boarded the Sandy/Salt Lake Line on opening day, December 4, 1999, exceeding initial projections of 14,500 riders per day. Opening the University Line ahead of schedule and under budget in December 2001 helped boost average TRAX weekday ridership to nearly 35,000 trips, about 35 percent higher than it was a year earlier.

In its early years, UTA reported an average of three million rides taken per year. In 2002, approximately 30 million trips were taken.

In November 2000, voters in Salt Lake , Davis and Weber counties approved a quarter-cent sales tax increase to fund more transit. The approval of this tax increase indicates growing support for the expansion and improvement the Wasatch Front's public transportation system. With the increased funding, UTA is planning expansions of its light rail line. One extension will be a 10.5-mile line from the 6400 South station to a planned development called Sunrise , in South Jordan . The other is the five-mile West Valley line from the 2100 South station to the Valley Fair Mall. Both projects will be complete by 2012.

Many Utahns remember Utah 's last interurban train, the Bamberger Line, which, because of highway subsidies and low fuel prices, ceased passenger train service in 1952. The electrified Bamberger Line was a predecessor to light rail; however, UTA visualizes a different future for interurban rail travel.

As early as 2007, commuters traveling between Ogden and Salt Lake City will be traveling at 70 miles per hour by commuter rail. Commuter rail, one of Utah 's largest transportation projects, is based on 175 miles of right-of-way acquired from Union Pacific in January 2002. As the largest land acquisition ever made by a transit agency in the U.S. , this $185-million purchase preserves rail corridors along the Wasatch Front for development of north-south service from Brigham City to Payson.

The rails are back for good, and mass transit will continue to grow, giving Wasatch Front residents expanded options for getting around.

--Marti Money, Utah Transit Authority