The Utah Transit Authority should be heartily congratulated on more than ten successful years of improving commuter rail service along the Wasatch Front. UTA has led the movement to change our thinking and behavior to one of cultural and social responsibility for the environment by making better transportation choices.

As it should be, this ethic of cultural, social and environmental responsibility should be pervasive in a quasi-public agency such as UTA. The agency has a stated policy to environmental commitment on their Web site that includes broad statements such as "reduce, reuse, and recycle resources," "encourage citizen awareness and involvement in UTA's efforts to protect the environment," and "consider alternative effective solutions to environmental problems."

UTA is preparing to develop Salt Lake Central Station (the Intermodal Hub) for future growth that will come from southbound commuter rail and as many as four new light rail extensions. With all the positive emphasis on making good choices for our environment and our cities, how can it be an effective and responsible planning choice for UTA to demolish three historic buildings associated with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad at the Intermodal Hub?

It wasn't even 50 years ago that the railroad still flourished in Utah. Of course the 1860s duel between the Union Pacific and Denver & Rio Grande railroads is legendary history that built thousands of miles of rail through the toughest land in America.

The physical reminders of this history on our landscape are both grand -- such as the Union Pacific and Rio Grande depots -- and less amazing -- such as the box culverts that carried numerous tracks over creeks and streams. But between the grand and the less amazing are incredibly important structures of the everyday man in our city, largely misunderstood and underrepresented.

These include the buildings of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad shops, round house and freight yards, all built by 1910.

As late as 1951, the workingman's section of the D&RG included a boiler/engine shop, balsam shop, round house and turntable, and two freight houses. Located between 200 and 400 South, and 600 West and I-15, this section today only includes three buildings -- one of the two freight houses and the two-building boiler/engine shop. While the south section of the freight house has been renovated into the Intermodal Hub at Salt Lake Central Station, the freight house's north section and boiler/engine shop have been targeted for demolition by its owner, UTA.

The roots of the diverse Gateway neighborhood are in the railroad, warehouse businesses, and ethnic enclaves who lived and worked there. So it's been emphasized that as the neighborhood changes and evolves, the balance for preservation of its past and revitalization for its future is crucial. For the future resident, visitor and commuter, utilizing the D&RG railroad buildings to serve as a traveler's true destination point, one that preserves a sense of place defining Salt Lake Central Station will set a precedent for historic preservation and serve as a model for future Gateway development.

Historic industrial warehouses just like these have proven to make some of the best adaptive reuses in Salt Lake City and around the state, mixing inspiring spaces with the latest in sustainable design.

Private industry is taking historic preservation's power in marketing sense of place and making it pay on the bottom line. Reusing signature historic buildings near public transit is a formula for success at Salt Lake Central Station, building transit-oriented development with character. The Utah Transit Authority should leverage their leadership to capitalize on the opportunity to build upon the historic resources that are the soul of Utah's historic train industry, its historic neighborhood and the future of Utah mass transit by rehabilitating the Denver & Rio Grande freight house and boiler/engine shop.

Kirk Huffaker is executive director of the Utah Heritage Foundation.