About
Mike Christensen
Mike Christensen
MCMP, CNU-A, AICP
Mike joined the Rail Passengers Association’s Board of Directors in 2019.
He has been employed as Executive Director of the Utah Rail Passengers Association since its creation in 2018.
He holds a Master of City and Metropolitan Planning from the University of Utah.
Mike is a member of the American Planning Association, the Congress for the New Urbanism, Strong Towns, and the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals. He currently serves on the board of the Utah Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism, and on the board of the Utah Transit Riders Union.
In September 2021, Mike was appointed to Salt Lake City's Planning Commission.
Mike claims Malad City, Idaho, as his hometown and has lived in Utah since 1999 and in Salt Lake City’s Rose Park neighborhood since 2003. An avid transit user and bicycle rider, Mike got rid of his car in 2017 and hasn’t looked back.
"It is an honor to be recognized by the Rail Passengers Association for my efforts to strengthen and expand America’s passenger rail. Golden spikes were once used by railroads to mark the completion of important rail projects, so I am truly grateful to receive the Golden Spike Award as a way to mark the end of a career that I’ve spent fighting to invest in our country’s rail system. As Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, it has been my priority to bolster funding for Amtrak, increase and expand routes, look to the future by supporting high-speed projects, and improve safety, culminating in $66 billion in new funding in the Bipartisan infrastructure Law."
Representative Peter DeFazio (OR-04)
March 30, 2022, on receiving the Association's Golden Spike Award for his years of dedication and commitment to passenger rail.