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The Committee to Stop East/West Light Rail was formed June 1999 in opposition to the 2.3 mile Utah Transit Authority (UTA) Light Rail Spur from Main Street to Rice Eccles Stadium Parking Lot. Committee members included Steven Flint Lowe, Mark Hale, and John Webb, each of whom owned businesses along the proposed route on 400 South.
The Committee was not opposed to mass transit or light rail in general. To the Committee members, the main problem with the East/West line was the location of its route beginning on Main Street and traveling East on 400 South. The Committee listed several reasons why this was the wrong route:
1. The route would unnecessarily create traffic and safety risks for a small transit benefit.
2. The estimated cost at $118 million was too much for what they considered a small benefit.
3. UTA built light rail "backwards and wrong." Details of this are included in the collection.
4. Light Rail Systems in other cities "have been considered failures or financial burdens."
5. The University of Utah is only in session 190 days a year and the Committee figured that approximately 75% of University Light Rail passengers travel free of charge.
6. The Committee believed: "There is nothing a train can do in 2.8 miles that a bus cannot do."
Despite the Committee's efforts to stop it, Utah voters approved the East/West light rail and UTA and the Utah Department of Transportation continued forward with the University Light Rail System plan.
The collection includes correspondence and a position paper from The Committee to Stop East/West Light Rail. The first folder has an index of correspondence from the Committee, but not all of the correspondence is represented in the collection. The Committee donated what it considered to be the most important letters for the collection. The 48 letters were placed in the public record between 3 June 1999 and September 2000. The collection also includes a copy of the Committee November Position Paper.
Committee to Stop East/West Light Rail Records, 1999-2000, Utah State Historical Society.
Gift of Steven Flint Lowe, 15 March 2002.
The Committee to Stop East/West Light Rail Records are the physical property of the Utah Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah. Literary rights, including copyright, may belong to the authors or their heirs and assigns. Please contact the Historical Society for information regarding specific use of this collection.