The Provo Industrial Lead: UTA’s Future TRAX corridor in Utah County

This post is going to be a bit different, there’s as much future in it as there is history, but we should remember that the future is built upon the past.

A TRAX Blue Line train sits at Draper, the current southern end of the line.

Lately there’s been a lot of talk about the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) extending TRAX, its light rail system, into Utah County. This expansion has been part of UTA's long-term plan for decades, but with the redevelopment of the state prison site—near Point of the Mountain—there have been calls to speed up their construction plans. For example, see this KSL article: TRAX in Lehi? UTA provides preview of possible future light rail lines to Utah County

UTA has owned, for many years, the right-of-way that would make this extension possible. The southern part of the right-of-way is currently known as the “Provo Industrial Lead,” and it runs through the heart of Utah County. The northern part of the right-of-way has had TRAX trains rumbling through it for decades, while the middle section, through Draper and around Point of the Mountain, has sat mostly empty. The entire rail corridor has existed for 140+ years, having been originally constructed by the Utah Southern Railroad–a Mormon led venture to expand rail service south from Salt Lake City through the Salt Lake Valley and into the southern part of Utah County.

The Utah Southern Railroad broke ground for the railroad on May 1, 1871 and in November 1872 the line had reached Provo; the company would eventually take the rail as far south as York (an area between Mona and Santaquin). It is interesting to note that Latter-day Saint congregations in the area affected by the new line actually contributed labor to its construction.

One of the few remnants of the Utah Southern Railroad,
this original station at Lehi still stands.
One day UTA's TRAX trains will zip past on tracks just behind the station.

Eventually the Union Pacific (UP) gained control of the Utah Southern Railroad and their trains were commonly seen on the line until the mid to late-1980s. In October 1985 the UP had worked out an agreement with the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RG)—the other large railroad in the area—in which the two companies were able to share track. The UP began to use D&RG’s track in Utah and Salt Lake Counties and the D&RG used UP’s track north of Salt Lake. (The UP purchased the D&RG’s assets in 1996, including their rail corridor in Utah County.) Today UTA’s FrontRunner and UP freight trains use the original D&RG rail corridor in Utah County–although north of Salt Lake City much of D&RG’s original corridor has been replaced with the D&RGW Rail Trail/Prospector Rail Trail for walking and cycling.

But, what happened to the Utah Southern Railroad/Union Pacific rail corridor in Utah and Salt Lake Counties after UP began using D&RG’s track? Even though it saw a substantial drop in traffic, the UP continued to use it to pick up/drop off freight for its customers along the line. This is where UTA now enters the picture, in 1992 they were able to purchase the corridor from 900 South in Salt Lake City to Point of the Mountain. (See ICC Finance Docket No. 32186.) Within a few years they had begun to pull up the old track and replace it with new track and wire for the TRAX light rail system. In 1999 they opened the system, which initially ran from Salt Lake City south to Sandy, all within the former Utah Southern Railroad/Union Pacific corridor. In 2013 they opened an extension which ran from Sandy to Draper and was just a continuation within the old corridor. (Other TRAX extensions, which run to the airport, Daybreak, University of Utah, and West Valley use other rail corridors.)

Where new meets old.
In the distance is UTA's TRAX, in the immediate foreground is the
remnants of the old track along the rail corridor.
Taken along Constitution Avenue at the Draper City Park.

In 1992 UTA had only purchased the corridor as far south as Point of the Mountain, but in 2002 they purchased another section, running south all the way to Hardy (an area near the border of Lindon and Orem, along Geneva Road). (See Surface Transportation Board Docket No. 34170.) It is generally this section of track, from Lehi to Orem that is known as the Provo Industrial Lead. UP retained rights to run their trains on the tracks, and infrequently trains are still running along the Provo Industrial Lead in Utah County serving the remaining companies along the line. (A similar agreement allows freight to be picked up/dropped off along the northern parts of the corridor when TRAX service ends for the night.)

There is still a small section of the Provo Industrial Lead not owned by UTA. This section runs from Hardy south to about the Orem FrontRunner Station, where it merges with other UP track. The aforementioned long-term plan is to continue TRAX from where it ends in Draper, around Point of the Mountain, through Utah County, to where it would end in Orem at the FrontRunner Station. This is among the reasons that the new bus rapid transit system, Utah Valley Express (UVX), was built starting in Orem–as no light rail system is in the long-term plan south of Orem. But, even with this long-term plan in place, there are a couple other options on the table for exactly where the track would run in a few locations.

The southern end of the Provo Industrial Lead is seen in the distance.
This area was historically known along the railroad as "Lakota Junction."
The view is from the Orem FrontRunner Station.

The section of the Provo Industrial Lead still owned by UP runs between Hardy and Orem along Geneva Road, and anyone entering Vineyard has to cross over it. Vineyard City officials believe the track is preventing development, and they have been working with UP to get it torn up. If this happens, TRAX will have to turn west at Hardy and run alongside new tracks paralleling FrontRunner, rather than using the last section of the Provo Industrial Lead. (Which won't offer much new to Vineyard or northern Orem.) These two possibilities are contrasted in the map below (as Vineyard Option 1 vs Vineyard Option 2).

The various options for bringing TRAX into Utah County.

The map above also shows the two current options presented for expansion in the southern part of the Salt Lake Valley. The first, and cheaper option, sticks with the long-range plan and just continues the line from Draper around Point of the Mountain using the existing Utah Southern Railroad/Union Pacific rail corridor. The second option would construct a new corridor running west from Sandy and then south through the state prison site, with it connecting to the Utah Southern Railroad/Union Pacific rail corridor at Point of the Mountain. This plan would provide rail transport directly to whatever development happens at the site of the prison, but would be costlier and more disruptive due to the construction of a whole new corridor. No doubt the citizens of Draper would prefer the route through the prison site, as many have built homes up against the Utah Southern Railroad/Union Pacific corridor and would prefer not to see it re-purposed for TRAX. But, then again, they did choose to build next to a rail corridor that has been there for 140+ years.

Vegetation along the tracks is heavily overgrown in the
southern part of Draper. It is still unknown if TRAX will use this
section of the corridor.

It is pretty much a guarantee that the Utah Southern Railroad/Union Pacific corridor will have to be used at Point of the Mountain, as I-15 takes most of the room at the summit and the FrontRunner and UP tracks already use the space down in the Jordan River Narrows. Not too long ago, property owners near the corridor at Point of the Mountain actually sued claiming that since the corridor wasn’t currently being used, the right-of-way should be forfeit. The federal government ended up paying $24 million to preserve the right-of-way. (See GENEVA ROCK PRODUCTS, INC., ET AL. v. USA)

The Utah Southern Railroad/Union Pacific
rail corridor near Point of the Mountain.
Taken from the Porter Rockwell Trail, where it passes over Bangerter Parkway.
Future views of the Salt Lake Valley from TRAX in this
area would be beautiful.

While we may be seeing TRAX to Lehi sooner rather than later, it will likely be a long time before it goes any further south. As we watch the process, bear in mind that any extensions will bring out the UTA haters. We will likely hear first and loudest from those in Draper living along the rail corridor, but I also expect some in Lehi, American Fork, Pleasant Grove, Lindon, and Orem to fight expansion through their cities.

A section of the Provo Industrial Lead at Pleasant Grove. The track
passes underneath State Street in the distance.
Taken from the 200 South road crossing.
The Utah Southern Railroad and Union Pacific had their Pleasant Grove
stations at this location. (Just to the east still stands the Pleasant Grove station
of the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad. It has been converted into a home.)

Some cities along the rail corridor have worked with UTA to add
walking and cycling paths along the tracks. In Draper the trail is known as
the "Porter Rockwell Trail" and in Lehi it is called
the "Historic Utah Southern Rail Trail."

If you're interested, a local group of rail fans run a YouTube channel called ERA Films and they caught some train action along the Provo Industrial Lead back in 2016. The video starts in roughly the area of Hardy: