DRAPER -- The noise of the UTA’s new Draper Trax line has impacted a Sandy man’s quality life.
Although the new trax station opened last week, resident Mark Glassett, said test runs have been going on for the past month.
Glassett said the sound of new Trax line makes him stop mid-sentence when he’s speaking, which has bothered him every day since the first test run.
“It wakes me up in the morning – keeps me up until 11 p.m. because it’s pretty loud,” the Sandy man said.
The extension of the Blue Line into Draper has been substantially complete since December. Crews spent the last few months testing the route.
An engineer by trade, Glassett said he noticed the noise issues and decided to do his own tests.
Using a calibrated sound meter, Glassett measured the mount of noise being made by the train.
Before the line went in, Glassett said, an environmental impact study predicted the noise from the other side of the wall should be at the most 67 decibals.
The meter is a log rhythmic scale. It reaches 73 decibals as the train goes by.
Glassett said the sound wall isn’t high enough. He added that the wall should have been made of cement like in other areas instead of synthetic wood.
“I don`t know why they chose this -- the first thing that pops into my mind is they wanted to save money,” Glassett said of UTA. “Now it kind of irritates me -- now I feel like they were under budget at my expense.”
UTA officials say they are still taking all input from the public and are working on any kinks that might need to be worked out.
