Commuter Rail Comes To Utah

The path to building cost-effective and successful public transportation systems is long and slow. Over the life of a project, the construction phase often takes less time than the preliminary planning work required. It takes years to identify the need for new services, plan routes, obtain federal

The concept for the Salt Lake City Rapid Transit System was first formulated in 1996 when studies by the Utah Transit Authority recommended the need for public transportation along the Wasatch Front. A 30-year long-range transportation plan was created to ultimately connect Payson with Brigham City. Commuter rail was prescribed as the preferred form of transportation, with a suggested alignment paralleling the I-15 corridor.

Four years passed, and the project moved slowly. Then in November 2000, Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties passed a sales tax increase specifically to fund transit. In January 2002, UTA revealed an agreement to purchase 175 miles of rail corridors from Union Pacific Railroad — the largest geographic right-of-way acquisition in the United States by a transit authority. By the summer of that year, the complex process of environmental impact studies had begun. In September 2002, the terms of the right-of-way purchase were finalized.

Right from the start, UTA determined that involving local communities in project development would build future ridership and insure profitable continuing operation. In November 2002, a series of scoping meetings was held, initializing public involvement. The organization also set a goal to make SLCRT the most cost-effective system in the country, offering riders the highest quality experience at the lowest cost to the public.

Finally Under Way

In July 2005, construction started on the first phase of this long-term transportation system. A $200-million contract for Weber County to Salt Lake Commuter Rail, Project Number UT03-011V, was awarded to Salt Lake Commuter Rail Constructors. SLCRC, a joint venture partnership between Stacy & Witbeck Inc. (51 percent) of Alameda, Calif., and Herzog Contracting (49 percent) of St. Joseph, Mo., functions as the construction manager/general contractor for the project. Stacey & Witbeck had prior local experience with urban light rail projects for UTA in downtown Salt Lake City.

The scope of this first phase project includes site prep and storm drainage along 44 miles of right-of-way, track installation, an intermodal transit facility in Salt Lake City, and eight park-and-ride sites. The local office of Parsons Transportation Group was responsible for design. Scheduled completion date is July 2008.

One of the major challenges on the job is storm drainage. The existing right-of-way has established drainage patterns that cannot be altered. To drain the new railbed, existing pipes must be extended and new pipes must be tied into existing structures. SLCRC found several problems with existing pipes — many were inaccessible, non-functional or in poor condition. As a result, installation of nearly all new drainage improvements require field reconnaissance and design adjustment before they can be completed.

Grading and shaping for the new railbed is progressing smoothly. Heavy equipment operations are carefully planned to meet the challenges of the linear site — a narrow 25-foot-wide corridor with limited access points along the 44-mile length. Outside the rail right-of-way, clearing and grading operations are in progress at the park-and-ride sites. As of mid November, SLCRC had completed 5 percent of the contract.

Commitment to Technology

Prior to beginning construction, SLCRC determined that GPS technology was essential to building the project within budget and on schedule. The cost of survey and layout work represented a significant portion of the contract. Clayton Gilliland, construction manager, decided that an investment in GPS equipment would result in a significant savings on these costs and cover the expense. To date, SLCRC has invested $540,000 in Topcon GPS+ construction survey and machine control systems: four base stations, two survey rovers, and six machine control systems — two automatic motor graders, one automatic dozer, and three indicate dozers.

Prior to making a purchase decision on GPS equipment, SLCRC spent four months evaluating products from two different manufacturers. During that time SLCRC managers attended ConExpo and further studied the advantages of both systems. Throughout the process, Joe Micklos, co-owner of Rocky Mountain Transit & Laser Inc., provided information about Topcon products and answered questions about performance.

Gilliland explained why SLCRC chose Topcon: "To be completely frank, we didn't just decide based on the hardware or the brand — we decided based on the manufacturer's representative. That's the bottom line. We decided on Joe's experience and knew he would support us in the field better than representatives from the other brand."

Topcon GPS+ offered the major advantage of increasing earthwork productivity by 25 percent to 50 percent. Using GPS machine control systems on grading equipment virtually eliminates the need for grade staking, checking and layout. This results in greatly improved safety on the job site by reducing the number of people working close to truck and machine operations in the narrow work zone.

Ending the Year And Looking Ahead

Since the July start, SLCRC has brought two miles of right-of-way to finished grade and installed 25 percent of the drainage. By the end of 2005, the contractor had completed a fill 1,500 feet long by 40 feet high connecting two bridges with 200,000 cubic yards of earth.

Clayton Gilliland offered a brief forecast for the 2006 construction season: "By the end of the year, we will have to complete 50 percent of our contract and start actual track construction. Based on our progress this past year, we hope to exceed those expectations."