Washington » Plans for a light rail extension into Draper got a $10 million boost recently, thanks to the urging of Utah's senators.
Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch pushed through an earmark in a budget bill last fall that will give the Utah Transit Authority the federal funds to continue planning and engineering for the 3.8-mile addition to the north-south TRAX line.
President Barack Obama signed the bill into law in December and the official notice of the project is expected to be posted this week in the Federal Register.
Bennett said the transportation project -- and others he inserted into the bill -- is crucial to the needs of a booming population.
"As traffic congestion increases and Utahns become more energy conscious, more people will rely on public transportation for their daily commutes," said Bennett, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
UTA is currently doing environmental assessments of extending the light rail line, which now ends in Sandy, into Draper but hopes to start construction on the project within a year. The project is expected to cost upward of $212 million. UTA is hoping to grab 80 percent of that from the federal government.
The line, which would add an average of 3,000 riders a day to the system, would include three stops, likely at 11400 South and 11800 South and Pioneer Road. The north-south line of TRAX now ends at Sandy Civic Center at 10000 South.
UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter says the federal cash will be really helpful to the transit agency as it continues to build out the light rail system, "especially right now in an economic recession where cash flow is a concern."
The federal money will go toward preliminary design and engineering.
Carpenter said the funding allows UTA to free up its own local funds for other projects, though a local sales tax is still footing 20 percent of the overall costs of the line.
UTA is about halfway finished building the Mid-Jordan and the West Valley lines and about 20 percent complete on a line to Salt Lake International Airport. The agency also is about a fifth of the way done with a commuter rail line that will link Provo with its FrontRunner service.
