This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Sixteen-year-old Howard Saavedra couldn't believe what lay in the long, open space where freight trains used to run near his house in Salt Lake City's Poplar Grove neighborhood.
"There were TVs, refrigerators, just so much trash," he said. "It just surprised me how many people do that, just dump stuff back there."
With the help of community activist Michael Clara, one of his Boy Scout leaders, Saavedra decided to do something about it. He made cleaning up the old rail line his Eagle Scout project. On Saturday , about 80 people came together to clear out brush, glass and trash from the corridor that runs along 900 South between Redwood Road and 900 West. They even used shovels to carve out invasive weeds. The day before, some 30 people from the Boys and Girls Club and the low-income day care Neighborhood House attacked a different section of the corridor.
Their work is a preparation for an even bigger change. This summer, Salt Lake City will begin work on a $700,000 project to pave the rail corridor into a bike path that will connect west side residents with the TRAX light-rail station on 200 West and shopping on 300 West, said Frank Gray, the city's director of community and economic development.
"It's probably one of the most major pieces of trail we've built in the community," Gray said. "On a daily basis, people can ride their bike down and shop and bring stuff home. Alternative transportation."
For longtime Glendale and Poplar Grove residents, the project is the culmination of a years-long struggle for peace and quiet. In 2001, after years of not using the line, Union Pacific began sending trains rumbling down the tracks again.
"The whistles would wake you up at night ... The house shook. I'd have nails that were popping out," said Sandy Moore, whose house lies within feet of the rail line.
Along with Clara, Moore helped lead the six-year neighborhood charge to get Union Pacific to abandon the line. Finally it happened, after a $50 million rail track realignment brokered between Union Pacific and city leaders.
The bike path and linear park project has been talked about for years, but last week the city approved the funding.
The bike path is part of a decade-long redevelopment effort that includes plans to turn the entire rail corridor into a park, possibly with some housing, Gray said.
With the west side additions, the city's bike path system could eventually allow a family to ride up from Sandy, along the Jordan River, and back down again — or they could take TRAX home, Gray said
The next step in the long-term plan is to ask residents what they want to see.
"For the next year, we'll work with the community to develop a master plan for a linear park or whatever the community comes up with. It'll probably be a 10- to 15-year process," Gray said.
"Eventually it will connect from the surplus canal all the way down to the light rail system."
At least one resident already knows what she'd like to see. Moore is looking to the city to not only keep the new bike path maintained, but build upon it. She envisions the Jordan River as the centerpiece of river walk attraction.
"The city has missed a huge golden opportunity," she said. "If you develop it, the tourists will come."
Twitter: @lwhitehurst —
Your two cents
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