Phoenix residents met Thursday evening for the first of several neighborhood outreach meetings to discuss the city’s contentious plan to extend the Valley Metro light rail to South Central Phoenix.
The meeting, held at the Audubon Center, followed recent controversy over the proposed extension, which would add several miles to the track, from Central Avenue and Jefferson Street to Central Avenue and Baseline Road.
The extension has raised concerns among some Phoenix residents and business owners because of the possibility of traffic buildup on Central Avenue, as the light rail expansion calls for reducing Central Avenue from four traffic lanes to two.
The re-evaluation came after efforts by grassroots groups like 4 Lanes or No Train along with other South Central businesses urging the Council to stop the extension. Original votes for the extension won by large margins.
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Hillary Foose, a spokesperson Valley Metro, said the community meetings are being held to inform residents about the differences between the two-lane design and four-lane design and the pros and cons of each. The feedback expressed by the community will eventually be taken back to city council to determine the next steps in the project.
“We want to make sure that the full breadth of the community has an opportunity to weigh in on what is a very important project for Phoenix and south Phoenix in particular,” Foose said. “We want the full gamut of stakeholders in south central Phoenix to weigh in on a project that we hope is very meaningful to them going forward.”
According to videos displayed at the meeting, the two-lane configuration would have “dedicated left-turn lanes” and allow cars moving straight on Central Avenue to continue to flow alongside the train when it passes through. The two-lane design will provide left-turn lanes and allow U-turns at every intersection.
The four-lane configuration, however, would have left-turn lanes at 13 intersections. Cars going straight on Central Avenue will share the left lane with cars turning left and making U-turns, which will result in fewer greenlights for each lane. In a four-lane configuration, cars will be stopped in all directions when a light rail train passes through an intersection.
Scott Miller, a senior transit planner for Valley Metro explained Central Avenue, was chosen for the extension originally because of the mix of residents, businesses and schools, and also because of its ability to connect to the rest of the light rail.
Valley Metro CEO Scott Smith said the project would cost about $1.2 billion to complete. Half of the funds were requested from the federal government, $189 million is coming from regional funds, and the remaining $220 million will come from the city of Phoenix.
He said federal and regional funds go away if the not used on this specific rail project. He also said the remaining $220 million from the city of Phoenix would have to be used for “a transportation project and go back through the process that the city of Phoenix has to be allocated.”
Foose said the next steps after the meetings the information will be brought back to Council for further feedback, likely at the end of September.
There will be five more community meetings to discuss the light rail expansion. The next community meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 4 at 6 p.m. at Cesar Chavez Elementary School. A full schedule can be found here.
Contact the reporter at eswhitfi@asu.edu.
