Sugar House in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a neighborhood with a reputation for community and history. The idea of a streetcar fits here. With a moderately dense population, walkable neighborhoods and robust redevelopment potential, this community welcomes transit. The name Sugar House is synonymous with Salt Lake City, but its neighbor, South Salt Lake City, a community of 22,000 residents and a partner in this project with approximately 50 percent of the proposed streetcar project, also has much to gain.

Located adjacent to the capital city of Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake City is just a few miles from the central business district of downtown. Many of the residents of South Salt Lake have been living there for a long time; long enough to watch as Interstate-15 divided their city in two and Interstate-80 divided their city again into even smaller pieces. Residents have recent memory of the inequity of transportation impacts, so the idea of a streetcar at first brought some skepticism from established residents who were afraid the streetcar would divide their city even more. But recently a new attitude has taken hold in the city, as the proposed streetcar is now seen as a way to bring access and mobility to a city facing numerous challenges. 

The demographics of South Salt Lake tell a story of a community with potential. According to the South Salt Lake City General Plan, the educational dropout rate is 28 percent among the existing population, 10 percent higher than in greater Salt Lake County; the median household income is 41 percent lower than in Salt Lake County; and 22 percent of residents are at or below the poverty level, compared with 10 percent in greater Salt Lake County. South Salt Lake City has also experienced declining sales tax revenues. Economic development is viewed by planners as a strategy to improve the quality of life and prosperity of city residents with the streetcar as a mechanism for change.

The idea for the Sugar House Streetcar was first brought to the cities and the Utah Transit Authority in the early 2000s by developers and community activists. The proposal: study a streetcar line to connect the existing light rail TRAX Station on the west, and the Salt Lake City community of Sugar House on the East, connecting along the way several areas proposed for redevelopment. Through an alternatives analysis process completed in 2007, each of the cities and the Utah Transit Authority selected a streetcar as a preferred alternative. Originally part of the third phase of the Wasatch Front’s fiscally constrained Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) to be completed by 2030, a Sugar House streetcar wasn’t to be developed for many years. However, due to the unanimous support and proven partnerships, as well as the streetcar’s performance in enhancing mobility and improving the opportunity for economic development, the project was moved to phase one of the LRTP.
The project consists of a modern streetcar line, two miles in length, which will connect a thriving regional commercial center (Sugar House business district) to the highly successful regional TRAX light rail system. This link will further strengthen the extent and intensity of use of the existing public transportation infrastructure as an increasingly competitive alternative to automobile trips. The project has features that meet both community and mobility goals. These include seven stops approximately 0.3 miles apart, service every 15 minutes during peak hours and every 30 minutes during off-peak hours. The western half of the corridor (in South Salt Lake) is characterized by a mix of aging warehouses, many of which are non-conforming to current city zoning, and light industrial uses, bordered by higher density residential neighborhoods.

When the project opens in early 2012, daily ridership is estimated to be approximately 3,000, rising to more than 4,000 in 2030. This streetcar also brings potential for development. Measuring that magnitude in ridership is crucial to understanding the universal benefits the cities will receive with this infrastructure investment. Using an activity-based approach (direct ridership forecasting) to predict ridership, the project team was able to examine the effects of a proposed 900-unit mixed-use development within South Salt Lake, and two developments proposed at the eastern terminus with more than 500 residential units, along with office and retail space. This method essentially connected the idea of economic development with improved mobility and access, and reflected the potential for approximately 50 percent higher ridership.