Godfrey and the council agreed to ask Utah Transit Authority, WSU and the hospital to kick in money toward what could be a $500,000 alternative analysis and environmental study of a streetcar between downtown and Harrison Boulevard below the east bench.
UTA's Mick Crandall said the study could take two years.
WSU's Jim Harris said having the council and mayor agree is "huge."
WSU has 18,000 students and 2,000 faculty and staff, and more than a third travel to campus from Davis County, said Harris, director of campus development. A streetcar from the Intermodal Transit Center downtown, where FrontRunner commuter rail stops, could do much to reduce congestion, he said.
"It's been a long time reaching an accord," he said.
A feasibility study three years ago identified a streetcar system as the best option, and proposed a route from the transit hub downtown east on 26th Street and south on Harrison to the university and hospital. The idea was to provide transit for inner-city residents as well as commuters.
The second choice, the study found, was a bus rapid-transit system. A gondola that would run east on 23rd Street - previously advocated by the mayor - was not a good option because there is not federal funding, the study found.
Godfrey had always rejected the streetcar plan as too expensive, mainly because of the properties that would need to be acquired along Harrison. On Thursday, he gave further argument that the 2005 study may have chosen the wrong route.
If transit is supposed to encourage high-density development, it would be better to have the main north-south stretch of the line on Washington Boulevard, not Harrison, he said.
The council agreed to study three routes: the route going east on 26th Street and south on Harrison, as suggested by the 2005 study; one going south on Washington to 30th Street then east to Harrison; and one going south on Washington to 36th Street then east to Harrison.
Godfrey said he hopes new streetcar technologies can keep costs down.
"It will have to be well under $80 million or $100 million for us to afford the package," said Godfrey. "If we can make a streetcar happen, fantastic. Let's do it. If not, then we can face reality and look at other options."
kmoulton@sltrib.com
