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Show Locargovinments plan ahead for IRAXcoto;; .... V ... tM1.omwiR referable to widen the road wy fen g f V,a hndce to ' . "'ver. LI1C11 By Harlow Clark TRAX is extending southward from Salt Lake County, and Utah Transit Authority (UTA) has bought up the track coming around the point of the mountain, down through American Fork and into. Pleasant Grove. Some confusion has been created as to whether UTA has just acquired right of ways or the railroad tracks alone. Part of the confusion, said Lindon mayor Larry Ellertson, is that UTA has done both - acquired some right of ways and some tracks, including right of ways with Union Pacific on both sets of tracks running through the valley. The east set, that comes around the point of the mountain, through American Ameri-can Fork and along State Street would be for TRAX, or light rail, which would stop every mile or so. The west set, which comes down through Jordan Narrows and runs west of I-15, I-15, would be for commuter rail, which could go from Ogden to Provo, Payson, or farther south. It will be more direct than light rail because the time it takes to get up to speed and slow down only allows stations every five miles, said Chad Eccles, transit planner with Mountainland Association of Governments (MAG). Ellertson and other mayors may-ors serve on MAG's transportation trans-portation and planning committees, and Ellertson said MAG believes commuter com-muter rail will come before TRAX because it's more direct into downtown Salt Lake City, but before either commuter or heht ran comes to Utah County there needs to be some kind of action in the state legislature legisla-ture defining a county wide transit district. Rail transit would be funded by a quarter- or half-cent sales tax increase, but since Utah County jointed with UTA on a city-by-city basis, UTA isn't county wide, so there can't be a county-wide vote on the tax increase. Eccles said MAG is hoping hop-ing to get a county-wide transit district declared this year1 and a ballot initiative for the sales tax increase in 2004. UTA won't sponsor the initiative though, Eccles said, because an agency can't use tax money to lobby for more tax money. Lindon, Pleasant Grove, American Fork and Lehi have separate challenges in preparing for mass transit. Ellertson said that because of how Lindon is laid out it's "not likely to be a earless city," and it's possible TRAX will end in Pleasant Grove. Commuter rail would pass through Lindon, though, out by the new freeway free-way interchange, and Lindon Lin-don would be involved in building a station and park and rides. "The thinking is there would be some feeder bus lines and some park and ride lots" between TRAX and the commuter rail, Ellertson said. Pleasant Grove mayor Jim Danklef said the TRAX extension isn't much of an issue in Pleasant Grove right now. "It's so far in the future that if I had a crystal ball I could tell you," Danklef coirl "Thpv keeD saving 15 to 30 years in the future." He said the county isn't willing to put a sales tax increase on the ballot, but the state's gas tax increase doesn't look like it will go through this year, which could make the sales tax increase easier for the county coun-ty to discuss. Ellertson hopes the sales tax increase gets on the ballot bal-lot and passes. "There aren't any transit systems that aren't subsidized, subsi-dized, but even people who don't use public transit benefit ben-efit from it because it takes cars off roads," he said. Mass transit is also expected to lengthen or enhance the usability of roads. Danklef said Pleasant Grove would need to build a depot, and that UTA approached the company that owns Water Gardens (across State Street from Macey's), but when they started talking seriously about a land sale, UTA said they didn't want to tie up property for 15 to 30 years before building on it, and to go ahead and sell the property prop-erty to someone else. There is a TRAX-related issue that will affect Pleasant Pleas-ant Grove soon, though. Eccles said State Street will have to be widened where it runs under the railroad bridge west of Geneva Road before 1-15 construction starts. Ellertson said one plan is to fill in the underpass, make it an at-grade crossing cross-ing and curve TRAX onto State Street at that point. Eccles said that if TRAX doesn't come onto State Street there it would be avoid car-train collisions. Crossings are American Fork's main concern. Mayor Ted Barratt counts approximately approxi-mately seven crossings between about 100 West and 200 East, and the city will need several more in the west part of town because of new developments develop-ments going in north of the tr3.cks. Public Works director and city engineer Howard Denney is working to set up a meeting with UTA to discuss dis-cuss roads for those developments. devel-opments. "We don't know where the roads are going to go because we don't know what's going to happen," Barratt said. And it's not just the expense of putting in roads and then maybe having to make costly changes in several sev-eral years. In one western neighborhood, residents' only access to the home is across the tracks. Their driveway runs right across the tracks. There are maybe 20 or 30 homes in that situation, situ-ation, said Barratt. Safety at crossings is also a concern, but Barratt said alignment and where the crossings will go are a greater concern. There are crossing arms in place already at some spots, and Barratt doesn't think there will be as many accidents as when the railroad was running. run-ning. He wants to see what kind of safety measures UTA has in mind and how they'll work. Barratt said American Fork needs information about where to put crossings cross-ings right away, but proba- Obituaries Janice Sepos Janice Marie Tetor Sepos, 56, of Pleasant Grove passed away Monday, Mon-day, March 10, 2003 at her home after a long battle with cancer. She was born March 14, J.y4b in Montour Falls, NY to Donald Don-ald Booth and Margaret Eva Howell Tetor. She married Carl Sepos on July 22, 1967 in Ithaca, NY. Their marriage was later solemnized in the Washington DC Temple on July 22, 1978. Janice grew up in Dundee, NY and graduated from Ithaca High School in 1964. She and Carl spent most of their married life in Pennsylvania. Janice worked for Jamesway, where she met Carl. They later moved to Utah after joining the LDS Church. Janice was an active member mem-ber of the church serving in the Primary Organization. Her last calling was nursery nurs-ery leader in the Garden First Ward. Janice worked for Wal-Mart Wal-Mart in American Fork and was recognized as associate of the year in 1998. She spent countless hours doing genealogy and reading. Janice will be remembered remem-bered for her service to others oth-ers and her great love for her family. She is survived by her husband Carl of Pleasant Grove and four children: Steven (Melissa) Sepos, Allentown, PA; Michael (Nicole) Sepos, Tobyhanna, PA; Jason (Sarah) Sepos, American Fork; Jennifer (Jeremy) Fitzgarrald, Orem; and seven grandchildren. grandchil-dren. Additional survivors include her father, Donald Tetor, Groton, NY; siblings: David, Doris, John, and Kimberly. She was preceded in death by her son, David and her mother. Funeral services will be held Friday, March 14, 2003 at 12:00 noon in the Garden Stake Center, 1000 North 1100 West, Pleasant Grove where friends may call from 10:30-11:45 a.m. Interment will be in the Pleasant Grove City Cemetery. Avalon C. Bigelow Avalon served in the LDS Avalon Christensen Bigelow passed away 7 March 2003 of COPD at her family home in Pleasant Grove, Utah Bur-rounded Bur-rounded by her five sons and their wives. She was born in St David, Arizona on 7 January Jan-uary 1922, the fifth child of Alfonzo and Mignon Christensen. Chris-tensen. She later moved to Prescott, Arizona where she attended Prescott High School and then to Provo where she attended BYU. She married LaVell Mcl-drum Mcl-drum Bigelow on 5 December Decem-ber 1941 in Norfolk, VA two days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. LaVell, a Naval Aviator on board the aircraft carrier USS York-town, York-town, departed immediately for the Pacific war zone. LaVell flew combat air strikes throughout much of the war leaving Avalon to raise the children. They were sealed in the Manti Temple in June 1942. Gaisford card of thanks We are most grateful for the many kind things done for our family in the recent death of our dear mother, LaRue Spratley Gaisford. For the lovely flowers, words of comfort, the luncheon lunch-eon by members of the 17th Ward Relief Society, and the many sweet memories of our mother expressed, we are most appreciative. Please accept this word of thanks until we can thank each of you personally. - Ruth Rothe Wightman Betty G. Spencer Laura C. Ritcha and families Church as Relief Society President in three different wards and as Stake Relief Society President in McLean, VA. She served a Public Communications Mission for the Church in Sydney, Australia with her husband. She is survived by LaVell, five sons: Chris (Mitzie), Bountiful; Robert (Jill), Pleasant Grove; Michael (Beth), American Fork; William (Vickie), Riverton; Mark (Jennie), Provo; 41 grandchildren; two sisters, Velma (Richard) Allen, Prescott, AZ and Dorotha (Arlan) Anderson, Kingman, AZ and her brother, Newell Christensen, Lindon. Twin sons, Andrew and Joseph, preceded her in death as well as her sister Millie Lee, Benson, AZ and brother Herman Christensen, Hay-ward, Hay-ward, CA. Funeral services were held Wednesday 12 March 2003 in the Northfield Stake Center, 105 West 1800 North, Pleasant Grove. Interment will be in the Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. Milestone entries, Including weddings, missionaries and other announcements must be turned in to the paper by Monday at 2 p.m. of the week you would like the notice to be printed Personal & business loans, debt consolidation, bad credit, no credit ujh. iiom w.wiu lo S5W.IKI0 . low interest rates U.JIUJ:IJjVM!.U.li;V)f.pT- Packages starting at just J550 each. RESERVE NOW!! X " "" .... i r Plush Pillow Top Mattress Sets TWIN . . . .$239 QUEEN . . ?oo . . .$269 KING $449 FULL iena issanoe- cSleep Centers 150 S. Stale Utuhm 7.f 5-7.9-i eral. "We want to know -what do we do right now. Do we continue to punch roads down across the tracks?" "I'm a huge supporter of mass transit," Barratt said, adding that without some good mass transit there's going to be a lot of gridlock, which makes the need for answers from UTA all the more important. "We know it will be a number of years until it comes into Utah County, but in reality we think it will be faster than we anticipate." Lehi mayor Ken Greenwood Green-wood agreed and said that having the right of way to the east tracks is a huge step. Those people who made that happen deserve a little gold star on their foreheads, fore-heads, he said. There is a problem with bringing TRAX around the point of the mountain, though. Eccles said overhead over-head electrification is expensive, and there's not enough population density to justify the "$20 to 30 million mil-lion a mile that light rail costs to build." TRAX might take 25 to 30 years, Eccles said, though a diesel multiple unit (DMU) system, light rail that runs on a diesel motor, could be running much sooner. One DMU, the Regio Sprinter, worked well in a Draper to American Fork test, but Eccles said it has a wide turning radius and derailed turning into UTA's yard. Another option is bus rapid transit (BRT), said Eccles, in which busses run along channels in islands down the middle of the road, except through intersections. inter-sections. Eccles said the most heavily traveled bus route in Utah County is the 830 a Ppt as now Tin, large s com -ate Legi , nP tentative plnk8iti'sonallyI 0Unty Win'! this will years. Entrant. Phase ig with an ' 'mPact 8turjti the f frora Salt en worl which bWi i'law ne 2007. h' and Greenwy ;imes a l wonders C. more exi rail win aer County. ufc';'athappe commuter y'iaTSer di agoandcoui promis the differet.strict t wiling- could one's m are OS I - , i , . ave to pi rapid transit; g there's so ,; n on those rt1 1 j , voters v ponders W,m a gc r00or' is not sa:d the volley nee( cial traffic voters v Planners is about corned amou same set ofves, usu "People want little smooV' ' one is- Pf C kreenwr! x Lehi's plai.' Timpa: onthearM;-.ilieral f set of trachithe has tried to higher der!r ' around the ; mountain, av projects ear. could double 1-tion. Like Bare1 would Lie tc sit soon. "I wiihit: tomorrow,' h . wood thirV; ; Atfcqftjns will be a m Lehi Td F5.ER 44 I I Hello wof WH' ;ADO Tm an old pWarm. seci- e 3S home av getting used:.". 4,-:rifc.i:. vborn bat ;all attorney 18-441 i". February 26 information ouples waitii t. You cho "ION? WHY? ler AdoDtion Girl to Jonathan and Ann Marie Cherrr ijecure, lovinc n . i-t- r t ' available for Boy to Scott and Cynthia r reitas of Atrom baby. Twin boys to Guerin and Jill Raught of'6 February 27 a-824 Girl to Timothy Wade Bartell of Eagle x-NTDOP Girl to Paul and Lonni Jerome of Eagle M.y and recei Girl to Stanford and Candv Orcutt of February 28 Girl to Chelsea Kave Grange of Highly Man-h 1 amiy- Ass :iarcn i availab Boy to Marshall and Kirsten BukerofLeH6-7638. Boy to Jeramy and Daphne r.nrh ran of Si? 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