The new TRAX light-rail extension from the Arena station to the city's intermodal hub on 600 West will open April 26, on the same day that FrontRunner commuter trains begin moving people from Weber and Davis counties to that hub.

Businesses that may have suffered through street and rail construction have weathered any difficulties and should begin to thrive as never before, said Bill Knowles, ombudsman for the city's Downtown Rising program. Even opening day on the trains should draw enough strangers to the neighborhood to make a lasting impression, he said.

"I don't think you can overstate what that is going to be," he said. "You'll see people taking that extra ride on the TRAX extension and saying, 'Wow. It's like a whole new place down here.' "

Only three businesses needed the city's low-interest loans to offset declines in business during the project, borrowing about $40,000 to be repaid over five years, Knowles said. And already, as the area's energy has built, the Gateway shopping district reports an uptick in business since the first of the year.

The new TRAX terminus will shake up schedules throughout the University and Sandy rail lines, but only by a few minutes, Utah Transit Authority spokesman Chad Saley said. The new track adds six minutes to an end-to-end ride on either line. The agency will release the precise schedule soon.

A TRAX train will leave the hub every seven minutes, timed to allow four trains between every half-hourly Front-

Runner arrival, Saley said. FrontRunner transfers to TRAX are free with a commuter rail ticket.

Construction crews still must install some overhead wires and connect to power substations, and have some track and concrete left to put down near the hub. Track signals and clearances will be tested and the agency will begin test runs of rail cars in mid-April.

Then the effort will shift to the Mid-Jordan and West Valley TRAX lines, both of which are scheduled for construction starts this year.

bloomis@sltrib.com