Valley Metro held an open house Saturday to showcase updated aspects of the South Central light rail extension design and answer community questions.
The proposed extension would add 5.5 miles to the light rail from Jefferson to Baseline roads. Currently, there is a plan to include a downtown hub, which would provide connections from the existing light rail to the extension.
The event was held in the South Mountain community center, near some of the areas that would be affected by the light rail expansion into South Phoenix.
“I think what you see here in the room is a lot of community interactions,” Valley Metro CEO Scott Smith said. “Over the last few months, we’ve been meeting with many in the community, taking into account their input and been designing a light rail extension that I think the community will be proud of.”
Despite a ballot initiative to stop the light rail project set for August, Valley Metro is going ahead with its plan.
“Obviously there’s some people who disagree with whether it should be built or not but that is out of our hands. That’ll be determined I guess at the ballot box, but we’re confident that the community will reaffirm once again their support. It’s going to be a beautiful project and it’s going to enhance the community,” Smith said.
The downtown hub would be located at Washington and 1st, Central and Washington, Jefferson and First and Central and Jefferson, forming a square.
The roundabouts would be located on Central Avenue. Dan Cleavenger, the deputy director of corridor development at Valley Metro, said roundabouts would benefit large trucks mostly, allowing them to turn around instead of having to drive north when they need to go south. The roundabouts will encircle light rail tracks. Valley Metro is not yet sure what will happen when a train comes, if cars in the middle of the road will have to stop or if all traffic will stop.
“Our current 26-mile system is a line, it’s a big L,” Corinne Holliday, the communications director said. “So when the extension opens there will need to be transfers, because you can no longer go from point A seamlessly to point B. If somebody wanted to come down to baseline they might have to connect to a different train. We’re growing, it’s great for the region.”
The extension will also include art from 18 local artists, 13 of which are Phoenix-based.
“We sent out a nationwide call, but we did do a lot of preselection workshops to really involve the local art community,” MB Finnerty the Public Art Administrator for Valley Metro said.
Community members also came to voice their opinions.
“I’m excited to have the light rail come to south Phoenix. Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the country and our transportation system is sorely lacking. It’ll give people the access to education and downtown as well as getting cars off the street.” Harvey Reiss, a member of the south Phoenix community said.
Groups, like Building a Better Phoenix, have been vocal in their disapproval of the expansion, were also there.
“I wanted to see what they had to say and the updates of the design. I still do not agree with this project,” member Susan Gudino said. “They still haven’t done anything to change my mind, it’s still not a good idea and they don’t talk about the crime, the traffic congestion or what they’re going to do with the businesses that are going to go under.”
Roman Ybarra, who lives in the area has been vocal about his lack of support for the expansion.
“This has nothing to do with mass transportation. It’s all about looks. If it was about mass transportation, then it would be running along our freeways and our mainstream corridors,” Ybarra said. “People in south Phoenix are getting the worst design. Once construction begins, who knows how long it’s going to take for emergency services to get to some of these people?”
Valley Metro will be hosting two more of these open houses on Monday, Feb. 11 and Tuesday, Feb. 12. The vote on whether or not the light rail extension will continue will be held on August 27.
Contact the reporter at nhthomps@asu.edu.
Correction: On Feb. 11, this story was updated to reflect that the light rail measure will be on the ballot in August, not March as previously stated.
