Ep 14 | The Rio Grande Plan, How Citizens Are Fixing Salt Lake City's Biggest Transportation Problem

What does it take for two citizens to propose moving a city's entire railroad underground — and actually get people to listen? Christian Lenhart is a civil engineer who saw Salt Lake City's west side cut off from downtown by freight rail lines that have divided the city since 1870. His answer: the Rio Grande Plan, a citizen-driven proposal to relocate the tracks into a below-grade "train box" along 500 West, eliminate dangerous at-grade railroad crossings, and restore the historic Rio Grande Depot as Salt Lake City's primary transit hub.In this episode of Cities in Motion, Christian breaks down how the Rio Grande Plan works, why he believes it can generate $12 billion in economic benefits, and how a project of this scale — estimated at $300–500 million — could ultimately pay for itself through transit-oriented development on the 75 acres of land the relocated railroad would free up. We also get into the politics of moving freight rail, what it's like advocating for transformational infrastructure as a private citizen, and why Salt Lake City's east-west divide is about more than just trains.If you're interested in walkable cities, transit-oriented development, urban revitalization, or what citizen urbanism can actually look like in practice, this is an episode you won't want to miss.Topics covered:What the Rio Grande Plan actually proposesHow a "train box" works and why it's more affordable than tunnelingThe history of Salt Lake City's east-west transportation divideTransit-oriented development and the Denver Union Station modelCitizen advocacy and how to build momentum for big infrastructure ideasThe role of Union Pacific, UTA, and federal funding in making it happen