![]() ![]() The Transportation Center is also equipped with a guest services center and public restrooms. Tempe Transportation Center (Located at the Rail stop) is the hub for all Valley Metro services, including the Metro Bus, Orbit and Rail connections."This is a time to put action behind this instead of just putting it into a bureaucratic rabbit hole and hope that it gets out in the next century," he said.īoyd added, "It's something that really should have never been cut in the first place. Ryan Boyd, a spokesperson for Urban Phoenix Project, an urbanist advocacy group, expressed concern that the project could get bogged down in the bureaucratic muck. "Fortunately, they are now moving in a direction that residents have stated they want." "The Phoenix City Council failed to uphold citizens’ vote," said Diane Brown, executive director of the Arizona Public Interest Research Group, which has lobbied for light rail in the past. Guardado added that the commission's recommendation to revisit light rail in west Phoenix will be brought to the council's transportation, infrastructure, and innovation subcommittee "soon." Guardado's chief of staff, Andrew Wunder, clarified that the council member plans to bring the recommendation to the committee this Wednesday.Ĭouncilmember Debra Stark, who chairs the transportation subcommittee and has historically been a proponent of light rail, did not respond to a request for comment regarding the issue.įor other light rail supporters, the Citizens Transportation Commission vote and the new power balance on the city council are encouraging. "Other colleagues are excited to support this." "The council looks very different today than what it did in the spring of 2019," she said. And during an August 27 meeting, the Citizens Transportation Commission - a 15-member body that oversees the implementation of Transportation 2050 - unanimously voted to recommend that the Phoenix City Council study mass transit options for west Phoenix, including light rail, for west Phoenix.Ĭity of Phoenix "What the voters had approved included a west Phoenix line in the plan," said Rick Naimark, an associate vice president at Arizona State University who serves on the commission as a transportation expert. "So, it’s pretty natural to say, 'Yeah, we ought to spend time focusing on moving forward with that,' because the voters of Phoenix said that there ought to be a line that reaches west."Ĭouncilmember Betty Guardado, whose district covers parts of west Phoenix, such as Maryvale, told New Times that there is significant interest on the council in rebooting the planning process for a west Phoenix line. ![]() The Phoenix City Council is stacked with light-rail supporters after the March 2021 election. Now, light rail advocates are hopeful that west Phoenix might actually get the route that was promised. In a 5-3 vote, the council approved a citizen petition that sought to stop the west Phoenix line after business owners in west Phoenix objected to the project. The idea was to extend the existing light rail line on Camelback Road west past Grand Canyon University at North 35th Avenue.īut the theoretical west Phoenix route was effectively killed in 2019 after the Phoenix City Council voted to use an estimated $153 million that was originally intended for light rail development for road projects instead, according to the Arizona Republic. Included in that was funding for an additional 42 miles of light rail track and stations, including a line to west Phoenix. Some quick background: In 2015, Phoenix voters approved a whopping $31 billion in funding to invest in transportation infrastructure, ranging from bike lanes to frequency bus routes, as part of a plan called Transportation 2050. Roughly two years after the Phoenix City Council scuttled a proposed light rail line in west Phoenix, it's looking like the plan might be getting revived. ![]()
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