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UTA has been promising to focus on buses rather than new rail projects. Now it’s proposing a $1B TRAX expansion.

The Utah Transit Authority has “heard the public loud and clear, make no mistake about that.” Any future tax increase will “be used exclusively for increased service, primarily bus service.” —

For the past four years, the Utah Transit Authority repeatedly promised to focus its resources on filling gaps in bus service frequency and coverage instead of seeking more of the big rail projects that had created $2 billion in debt. (Debt service is UTA’s single-largest expenditure, costing $119.6 million this year.)

But this past week, UTA officials told an advisory board that the agency is eying extending TRAX light-rail service all the way to Lehi, mostly to help spur development at the soon-to-be-vacated state prison site at Point of the Mountain.