Visionary Public-Private Partnership Brings One of the West’s Largest Greenfield Light Rail Lines to the Daybreak Community in the Salt Lake Valley

Rio Tinto’s Daybreak community accelerated process through land & financial donations

SOUTH JORDAN, Utah--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Rather than waiting for Utah Transit Authority’s (UTA) TRAX light rail to make its way to Rio Tinto/Kennecott Land’s Daybreak community, the Kennecott team worked to accelerate the process by investing years of hard work and millions of dollars. Today and after eight years of effort, Kennecott and transportation officials dedicated the Mid-Jordan TRAX Line that makes two (and currently final) stops in the Salt Lake Valley’s southwest end at the Daybreak community. Service to the general public begins on Sunday, August 7.

“We knew that a robust transportation network that included TRAX was vital for the full development of Daybreak and the long-term plan of 20,000 roof tops”

Daybreak, the award-winning, mixed-use community in South Jordan, Utah, was conceived around the idea of sustainability, and providing multiple transportation options for residents. Having options available provides better quality of life, reduces congestion and time spent commuting, while also reducing the number of cars on the road and the related emissions. Currently there are about 3,000 homes in Daybreak with approximately 9,000 residents who enjoy recently improved surface street access on 10400 South, the newly opened I-15 interchange at 11400 South plus 22 miles of community trails. Residents and businesses are also anticipating the completion of the Mountain View Corridor four-lane highway in 2012 (Phase 1). All of these improvements are made possible by the fact that forward-thinking infrastructure was always part of the master plan and now shops and high-density homes are building up around the improvements.

With volatile oil prices, and the ever-growing population of the Salt Lake Valley contributing to congestion on the freeways and greenhouse gas emissions, the Mid-Jordan Line gives Daybreak residents the option to reach shopping, work and recreation destinations by rail if they wish, giving them more choices about how they manage their lives—and their household budgets. When combined, the cost of gasoline, auto insurance, payments, and regular maintenance on a vehicle easily adds up to many times the cost of a monthly Transit Pass ($75).

“We knew that a robust transportation network that included TRAX was vital for the full development of Daybreak and the long-term plan of 20,000 roof tops,” said Don Whyte, President, Kennecott Land. “So, figuring out how to make the Mid-Jordan Line a reality years earlier than planned became a key part of our business plan.” Not only will Daybreak residents benefit from the access, the Mid-Jordan Line will also provide transportation to about 5,000 people each day from Bluffdale, Copperton, Herriman, Midvale, Murray, South Jordan, Riverton, West Jordan and parts of unincorporated Salt Lake County.

“This is a great example of a developer, transit agency and cities coming together to create something that not only gives people transportation choices, but also helps create a vibrant transit-oriented urban core in the southwest part of the Salt Lake Valley,” said Tom Warne, nationally recognized transportation expert and former director of the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT).

The end result of this partnership between government and the private sector is a modern light rail line that provides a light rail connection between the southwest area of the Salt Lake Valley to downtown Salt Lake City (52 minutes) and the University of Utah (U of U) (60 minutes). From end to end, the train will go between the new U of U South Jordan Health Center in Daybreak to the U of U Hospital on the main campus.

To help facilitate those discussions and create a unified vision for transit in the southwest valley, Kennecott Land organized the West Bench TRAX Coalition in association with the cities of Midvale, West Jordan and South Jordan. The result was a groundbreaking public-private agreement to share costs to fund the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) required to move the project ahead. Rio Tinto/Kennecott donated nearly $13 million to the project so the timetable could be moved up significantly and service could begin earlier than 2014. The donation includes paying for a portion of the EIS, donating land for the rail alignment and park-and-ride lots, and construction betterments in the public right-of-way for enhanced loading platforms and pedestrian and bicycle improvements.

Rio Tinto is now looking at ways to assure ridership with Daybreak residents, the 500 South Jordan Rio Tinto/Kennecott employees and the additional 2,000 employees who work elsewhere in the operation.

But perhaps four-year Daybreak resident Raquel Lubbers said it best, “It’s pretty simple – the new TRAX line will give us more freedom to enjoy our lives. We can bike to the station and take the train throughout the valley. We’re looking forward to skipping the traffic jams and getting around more by rail.”

Editorial Note: Photos will be taken on at this morning’s press event. To download the copies go to www.kennecottland.com. Images will be uploaded by 11:30 a.m. MDT.

About Daybreak

Daybreak is the vision of Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Utah Copper/Kennecott Land to carry sustainable development out on a large scale. Daybreak is a fresh way of thinking about community. Made up of a wide variety of energy-efficient new homes as well as shops, restaurants, offices, schools, trails, parks and more, Daybreak brings all the elements of life within easy walking or biking distance and TRAX light rail makes Daybreak even more convenient with connectivity to downtown. The community is situated on 4,126 acres in South Jordan City and will eventually include as many as 20,000 homes and up to 14 million square feet of commercial space. Daybreak is located at 11400 S. & Bangerter Highway. To learn more about Daybreak, please visit www.daybreakutah.com and www.kennecottland.com.

About Kennecott Utah Copper

As the second largest copper producer in the United States, Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Utah Copper comprises nearly 25 percent of U.S. copper production. Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon Mine is one of the top producing copper mines in the world with production at more than 19 million tons. In 2010, Kennecott produced approximately 275,000 tons of copper, 400,000 ounces of gold, 4 million ounces of silver, 25 million pounds of molybdenum, and 1 million tons of sulfuric acid, a by-product of the smelting process. Rio Tinto purchased the Bingham Canyon Mine and related facilities in 1989 and has invested more than $2 billion in the modernization since the purchase of KUC’s operations. KUC has also spent more than $350 million on the cleanup of historic mining waste and $100 million on groundwater clean-up. Rio Tinto employs 2,500 people and influences 14,800 indirect Utah jobs and spends $900 million in the state of Utah in wages, benefits, taxes and purchases from nearly 1,000 Utah area businesses. www.kennecott.com

About UTA

Established in 1970, UTA has become a multi-modal transportation leader that is 100 percent accessible with 69 light rail vehicles, 35 commuter rail cars and more than 600 buses. UTA’s TRAX light rail system is currently averaging more than 40,000 riders a day along its 15-mile Salt Lake-Sandy line and the 4-mile University Line. UTA is an ISO 14001:2004 9001:2000 certified agency. During the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, UTA’s transit system was declared a great success on the international scene - carrying more than four million Olympic riders.