Streetcars Are Getting People Excited in Salt Lake City

Gayle Conran helps publicize Salt Lake City, and included this information in her recent newsletter.

Sugar House Streetcar

Salt Lake is in the vanguard of the movement to bring streetcars – still fixtures of major European cities – back to its streets. Streetcars offer yet another green solution to transportation and were the choice when it came time to reuse a two mile abandoned freight line corridor running east-west through residential neighborhoods of Salt Lake City. The first phase is called the Sugar House Streetcar Project, named for the hip residential Salt Lake neighborhood that it passes through.

Sugar House is known for its small-scale shops and the expansive 110-acre Sugar House Park, the crown jewel of the Salt Lake park system, where visitors can join locals for jogging, biking and picnicking. The Sugar House Streetcar Project is currently under construction and will run from the 2100 South TRAX station along Sugarmont Avenue, ending at McClelland.

It’s set to open in December 2013. Building this first line will also involve the creation of a greenway, a linear belt of public spaces that are suitable for walking, bicycling and other activities. The greenway will include plazas, Parley’s Trail and extensive landscaping, and promises to become one of the city’s most popular public spaces.