Exactly 9 miles due west of Temple Square, at the 7200 West exit on Interstate 80, you can look north over the barren, salty mud flats where Salt Lake City used to dump its trash and conjure up a vision that has tantalized landowners, business interests and politicians for decades.
Squint at the landscape and imagine the long-closed landfill disappearing under a slab of concrete hundreds of acres across, train tracks branching out across it. Loaders move freight between train cars and truck trailers — inbound from overseas to locations across the West, outbound for export around the world.