The Central City Village Planning Committee agreed to recommend approval of a light rail extension into the South Central Corridor during their meeting Monday.
The committee discussed, among other things, a locally preferred transit alternative for the South Central Corridor. After extensive research and community outreach, Valley Metro came up with eleven possible transit routes and methods that were ultimately narrowed down to three: bus rapid transit, light rail and modern streetcar.
Using a favorability index primarily based on resident feedback, Valley Metro and Benjamin Limmer, a Valley Metro representative, concluded that the light rail was the best and most efficient option for transit to and from the South Central Corridor. The index took into account daily ridership estimates, traffic impacts and right-of-way, land use and economic development, and community support.
Limmer was particularly emphatic about the economic impact of Valley Metro’s Light-rail venture, which began in 2008.
“It cost $1.4 billion to construct the line, and from that, we saw about $7 billion of economic activity adjacent to our line, so it was very successful in promoting development of all different types,” Limmer said. “While it costs more to construct up front, ultimately is much more cost effective to build light rail.”
At times, there appeared to be discrepancies between Valley Metro’s approach to the South Central Corridor and certain committee members’ ideas. Some committee members, like Jim Trocki, were particularly upset that certain areas of Central City were left out.
“While the connection to South Phoenix is nice, it still does not serve key areas of the Central City neighborhood,” Trocki said.
Limmer’s presentation outlined the route, which would run southbound from Central Station to Baseline Road, which would then have a connection to specifically serve South Mountain Park.
The five-mile track would have stations at Lincoln Avenue, Buckeye Road, Broadway Road, Southern Avenue and Baseline Road — all major intersections with Central Street. The intersections were the most popular per residential polling, Limmer said. Designated for further study were Watkins Street, the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center and Roeser Road.
While there was skepticism that a full-sized Metro light rail station would fit in each of these locations, Limmer assured the committee that the roadwork could be done within the existing street widths (operating under the standard, two-lane model, with bike lanes, traffic lanes and light rail lines) without the need for acquisition of private property.
Committee Chairman Bob Graham approved a motion to recommend approval of the light rail expansion. While it was a big step for the South Central Corridor, Valley Metro’s ambitions have long been to stretch the boundaries of its service and jurisdiction further and further into the outskirts of Metro Phoenix, both east and west.
Projects could take place as early as 2015 or as far off as 2026. It is unclear at such an early stage what the exact costs of the project will be.
“It’s a major corridor, it’s going to go forward,” Graham said. “The reason it’s even being studied is because (Valley Metro) got a lot of constituent requests. It’s very expensive, so we have to deal with bond issues and federal funding.”
Contact the reporter at Stefan.Modrich@asu.edu
