Public Comment Period Extended

Legal Notice – UTAH TRANSIT AUTHORITY

NOTICE OF EXTENSION OF COMMENT PERIOD AND CONTINUED AVAILABILITY OF DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL STUDY REPORT

South Davis Transit Corridor Project

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) has extended the comment period for the Draft Environmental Study Report (ESR) for the South Davis Transit Corridor project that defines the purpose and need for the project, alternatives considered, potential for environmental impact, and mitigation measures that might relieve potential impacts. The 30-day public comment period has been extended to 45 days and will now occur from February 15, 2010, to March 31, 2010. Comments on the DESR must be postmarked, e-mailed, or faxed to the South Davis Transit Corridor Project by March 31, 2010. For inclusion in the official public hearing transcript, letters or comments must be postmarked no later than March 31, 2010. Please reference the project name within the comment.

Comments can be submitted in the following ways:

On the project Web site at: http://www.rideuta.com/projects/southDavisTransitStudy/submitComment.aspx

• By e-mail to southdavistransit@hwlochner.com

• By fax to (801) 801-415-5850 (write “Attention South Davis Transit Corridor Project” on the fax)

• By postal mail to the following address:

South Davis Transit Corridor Project

c/o H.W. Lochner,

1245 East Brickyard Road, Suite 400

Salt Lake City, Utah 84106

Copies of the Draft ESR are available during regular office hours for public review at the following locations beginning February 15, 2010:

§ Davis County Library, 38 South 100 East, Farmington, Utah

§ Davis County Library – South Branch, 725 South Main, Bountiful, Utah

§ Centerville City Library - 45 S. 400 W. Centerville, Utah

§ Salt Lake City Public Library – Main Branch, 210 East 400 South, Salt Lake City, Utah

§ UTA FrontLines Headquarters, 669 West 200 South, Salt Lake City, Utah

Copies of the Draft ESR are also available during regular office hours at the municipal offices of Salt Lake City, North Salt Lake, Woods Cross, West Bountiful, Bountiful, Centerville, and Farmington. The Draft ESR and further project information are also available at http://www.rideuta.com/projects/southDavisTransitStudy/default.aspx

Further information about the project can be obtained by contacting the South Davis Transit public involvement team at 1245 East Brickyard Road, Suite 400, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84106, or 801-415-5800.

John Inglish, General Manager/CEO

Transit Oriented Development - Do We Want It?

I happened to drive near the Sandy Civic Center TRAX stop today and discovered a TOD (Transit Oriented Development) that Sandy City has underway or did have underway. I thought you might enjoy taking a look.

This TOD is located adjacent to the TRAX station in Sandy.

Foundations are in the ground and ready for Phase II.

The TOD has many amenities for the residents.

Centerville's South Main Street Corridor Plan has as one of it's objectives, "9.E. Establish future transit stops near the Mixed-use Districts to create a transit-oriented development. Establish pedestrian links to and from any transit stops." I have thought a great deal about such developments. The ESR mentions Portland, Oregon as an example of a transit system that contributed to new transit oriented developments. I don't have any first hand experience with Portland, but we do have 10 years of TRAX experience to examine. "... some of the claims by TRAX proponents have not come true, either. The predictions that TRAX stations would spur transit-oriented developments and businesses have never quite taken hold, despite attempts" ('10 years of TRAX - only the beginning,' Deseret News Article, 12/6/09).

What do you think? Should we spend a half a billion dollars of our money and see if we can attract TOD's to Centerville's Main Street?

Is There Room On The Bus?

The Alternative Analysis Draft Report published in April 2008, addressed "future traffic conditions" in 2030 if we adopted the No-Build Alternative. The AADP states on page 37, "Generally, the overall traffic conditions in the study area indicate acceptable levels of service (LOS A through D), except for the CBD (Central Business District) of Salt Lake City."

I made a statement and put forth a question on November 12, 2009. I said, "Our buses are currently under utilized, do we need a rail system?" I wanted to provide you data that is obtained from page 1-10 of the ESR and Kerry Doane of the UTA. I noticed that the ridership contained in the ESR was from 2008. I have the ridership numbers for 2009 and "available daily seats." With that information, we can calculate the "available seats used" for each route. When considering "percentages" it is important to understand that routes have different characteristics; peak only versus all-day, express versus local, three county versus two-county. Some service has passengers getting on and off throughout the route which is difficult to quantify a percent full. Other routes are typified by passengers getting on early in the route and staying in their seats for nearly the whole trip. Look at the numbers and you decide if there's room on the bus.

Average Daily Ridership on South Davis County Bus Routes
	Daily	Daily	Seats	Percentage
	Ridership	Ridership	Available	Seats Used
Route	2008	2009	2009	2009
455	1326	1458	2070	70.4%
460	111	43	360	11.9%
461	102	117	315	37.1%
462	106	102	270	37.8%
463	117	72	225	32.0%
470	3913	3721	3825	97.3%
471	366	156	270	57.8%