Christian Lenhart

There are so many resources to discuss and follow the Rio Grande Plan! Each one of these platforms is run by a different person. Thank you to everyone for all the time and talent you spend making our community better! Check out this Linktree! - linktr.ee/riograndeplan?…

@Tr0nSwans0n I speak more for myself... I hate being on a train that has to be stopped for multiple hours while the police document a fatality.

@ChristianLenha4 Can we stop making society a padded room because it's uncomfortable to tell people they're fucking morons?

Reminder that at-grade railroad crossings are dangerous! A man was nearly hit at Murray after getting off the FrontRunner. He may have decided to run, thinking the other train was a slow freight train. Instead, it was a 60mph passenger train! This will only become more common.

@Popingheads Yes, there are more crossings than is practical to replace. But urban areas and frequent transit lines don't mix well. Speaking locally, our commuter train has about 40 remaining at-grade crossings. That's a manageable number.

@ChristianLenha4 I mean crossing like this are common all over the world, literally everywhere. Getting rid of all them would also cost an absurd amount of money. I would rather the funds go towards adding rail capacity, or even building high speed lines, foremost.

@SciFiBradley @BigP4P4Smurf There's truth to this. The one time I was on a train that hit a person, she was crossing the tracks illegally about 50 feet from an underpass. Still, it's less probable to have your train system grind to a halt if we separate people from trains as best we can.

@BigP4P4Smurf @ChristianLenha4 Don't try to make something idiot proof. Nature will always create a better idiot...

@andrew_kal Like @PBTBrider said, UTA will be adding more trains within the next 5-6 years. More trains mean more passengers, and more pedestrians. There are also many apartment buildings under construction nearby. It's time for UDOT to get serious about grade separations.

@ChristianLenha4 What’s your reasoning for “this will only become more common”?

@wanderingdave After being involved with this study from the beginning, nearly 5 years ago, I had thought the Community Advisory Board would preference the opinion of, well, the community. We've worked very hard to turn out the public and RGP supporters for years, so, yeah, it was surprising.

@ChristianLenha4 Is it really that much of a surprise they didn't go with RGP ?

Here are my thoughts and my plan going forward after the disappointing news from the WE Connect study. youtu.be/7VDYNz9_HSU?is…

@cbavery You absolutely can! Thank you for highlighting this safety issue. It's a good time to direct public attention to railroad crossings, with the WE Connect study about to make recommendations about the grade crossings in downtown Salt Lake City.

@ChristianLenha4 Hello Christian, I work for channel 2 in SLC. I watched your video -- close call. Would you allow us to use your video on-air and online with proper attribution and courtesy to you? We would like to spotlight the dangers of this.

Our statement on the recent decision by the WE Connect board to not advance the Rio Grande Plan

Happy birthday, USA! Our great country is made of great people with so many great stories to tell. When faced with challenges, our strength is that we can unite with each other: north and south, black and white, east and west, and everything in between.

I appreciate every moment of our collaborations, Jesse!

@soy_sauce97 @BjaminWood I'm not happy either. But the CAB recommendation is non-binding. There's no guarantee of action for any item in the study. Therefore, the most important part of the WE Connect study is documenting public opinion. We MUST come out strong in August and make our support known!

@BjaminWood I'm weeping

This is in the weeds, but we got the unfortunate news this week that a Community Advisory Board (CAB) looking at east-west connections in #SLC had determined NOT to recommend the RGP. So the best we can likely hope for is a bunch of ugly, hot shame bridges :(

Ultimately, the most important result of the study is community feedback. Supporters of the RGP MUST participate in the next comment period (August) and prove that the Rio Grande Plan has significant public support. Any smart politician can take real action with public support.

The study has 3 parts: 1) Community feedback. This has come in HEAVILY in favor of the Rio Grande Plan. 2) CAB recommendation. I'm sad the board didn't recommend the RGP. 3) Engineering feasibility. The Phased RGP will have a cheaper price than previous estimates.

Thank you, Fred, the master of memes!

@BjaminWood With how so many other businesses are focused on anual memberships, it's strange that UTA and their partners are cutting out everything but the Pay Per Trip model. The Hive Pass was an excellent way to make transit feel like an addition to one's life instead of a constant drain.

Hive Pass riders are THE most regular riders on the system. I’ll be diving into the post-Hive data as soon as it is available #slc

@PBTBrider Adding a 3rd trailer car and bathrooms and batteries would make the DMUs more expensive. Still, $30 million per unit seems pretty high, and they won't be able to make use of the acceleration boost until they get at least 10 more DMUs (to replace the existing fleet). Interesting.

@ChristianLenha4 I also was able to find that the FrontRunner DMUs are 315' while the DART vehicles are 266'

BREAKING: UDOT has released the notice to award for the FrontRunner 2X trainsets to Stadler for a contract price of $328 million

If your FrontRunner train was delayed yesterday, this is why: The crossing gate arm at 800 South in SLC crossing was damaged by a car, requiring UTA to reduce all trains to restricted speeds until the arm could be repaired. The Rio Grande Plan will eliminate this crossing.

If you'd like to meet the volunteers behind the Rio Grande Plan, come join us at the Glendale Regional Park Food Truck Roundup this Thursday!