VINEYARD, Utah — The Utah Transit Authority has opened the first new station in a decade for its FrontRunner commuter rail service, with ceremonies Friday marking the opening of the stop in the fast-growing community of Vineyard.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, appearing at Friday morning’s ceremony, noted the commuter rail’s role in reducing traffic on Interstate 15, which parallels the 83-mile FrontRunner route between Ogden and Provo.
“We cannot keep adding lanes to I-15,” Cox said. “… We have to think bigger and better, and that’s what we’re doing here today.”
UTA spent $17 million on the new station, while the state contributed $5.6 million to add the stop in Vineyard, a community adjacent to the town of Orem and just north of Provo on the site of a former steel mill. The population has grown from fewer than 150 residents in 2010 to more than 14,000. It is 15th station on the FrontRunner route.
I do have to give UTA credit for planning ahead on this one. When the Provo extension was being built, they identified a future location for this station and even built the line with a wide section between the tracks at that location at that time. Nice to see at least some transit agencies have advanced planning, I don’t see that from the metro area I currently live in (which I won’t name), they seem to lack any planning for the future in their light rail buildout.
At least your metro area has a light rail. Seventh largest city in the country has no rail in it’s future.