phoenix light rail expansion

But with ridership at all-time lows and no indication as to when ridership will return at pre-pandemic levels, is it smart to continue with pricey expansion of the light rail system? Smith said Valley Metro recently relocated about 30 large palm trees from the Central Avenue medians and a local nonprofit will replant them in other places throughout south Phoenix. 01:45. The extension, which includes the light rail system’s first roundabout at Horne and Main Street, broke ground in October 2016. But as cost estimates for new rail lines increased, so did the grumbling among some residents. On September 26, 2018, the Phoenix City Council voted to continue to move forward with the current two-lane design for the South Central Light Rail Extension. The extension is expected to open to passengers in 2024, but a substantial amount of work is already underway. The U.S. Department of Transportation has granted an additional $638 million to complete a light rail extension project in Phoenix. There no longer will be vehicle traffic allowed on Central Avenue between Washington and Jefferson streets — only pedestrians, buses and light rail. In Denver, expansions of light rail have sometimes fallen behind schedule but have drawn companies to growing areas, transportation officials said. He said he hopes the next transportation plan allows for some room for creativity as new technologies become real possibilities. In fact, Valley Metro has accelerated some projects, taking advantage of less vehicle traffic on the road while more people stay home. See more METRO maps at: http://raillife.com/light-rail-info/phoenix-light-rail-map/ The opposition, which has sometimes been linked to national conservative organizations, has often asserted that such projects are wasteful and tend to accelerate gentrification in neighborhoods along rail lines. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said the city knows it will have to "earn transit ridership back" by ensuring safety precautions, like enhanced cleaning and required face masks. Hasan Minhaj calls out Koch brothers for derailing public transportation across country 1 year ago . Public transportation ridership has dropped in every city across the country since March, when stay-at-home orders, school closures and remote work began in many states. Fewer than one-third of jobs in the Baltimore area can be reached within 90 minutes using public transit, according to a 2016 study by the Brookings Institution. Gallego said voter approval to extend the regional transportation tax is essential just to maintain the current level of public transportation service and freeway maintenance in metro Phoenix. The university’s resistance was criticized by Duke graduates and nearby residents who thought the school was shirking its responsibility to help the surrounding community. On buses, passengers board through rear doors to minimize contact with drivers, and the city of Phoenix and Valley Metro have installed physical barriers between drivers and passengers. Construction of the bridge over Interstate 17 should begin in the next few months, Smith said. Metrocenter Mall closed in June after 46 years of business. The line takes around 85 minutes […] For more stories that matter, subscribe to azcentral.com. "We've been able to keep people working, wages paid, and we've been able to take advantage of the change of traffic flows to really do some things that we wouldn't have been able to do.". Valley Metro is also expanding the western endpoint of the existing light rail line. It faces opposition from business owners backed by activists affiliated with the Koch network E v a n W y l o g e i n P h o e n i x The Northwest Light Rail Extension was approved by the Phoenix City Council in 2004 to expand the light rail from the previous end-of-line at 19th Avenue/Montebello to 25th Avenue and Mountain View road. Workers are removing medians on Central Avenue and starting to relocate water pipes and utility lines to get ready for the rail system. But another city’s fight over light rail ended differently this week: Residents in Phoenix voted on Tuesday to continue financing that city’s growing light-rail system — a rebuke to opponents who had argued that the system was too costly, and a lift to people who see public transit as a key to the city’s future. About 1/3 of transit riders are students going to and from school. He said Valley Metro believes that piece of property will evolve into a new commercial, residential and employment hub that will center around light rail. That $530 million will fund the remainder of the roughly $1.35 billion light rail expansion into south Phoenix. “Good News: You have a chance to fix those roads” by voting to block the light rail expansion. The first major transit tax was approved by Phoenix voters in 2000. Phoenix light rail extension contract approved 2020-07-22T11:00:00 USA: The award of a contract for a joint venture of Kiewit and McCarthy to build Phase II of the northwest light rail extension in Phoenix was approved by the Valley Metro Rail board on July 16. The Northwest Phase II extension will include new elements in Phoenix. Duke administrators said it would jeopardize public safety and health. "These projects don't happen overnight. Phoenix Light Rail Map Extension Shelly Lighting October 31, 2018 Light rail is inching toward south future light rail map and movephx campaign light rail expansion in phoenix az southern route for expanding light rail Reach the reporter at jessica.boehm@gannett.com or 480-694-1823. "To see how first, ride share has disrupted transportation and secondly, how the mere mention of the potential of autonomous vehicles has continued to further disrupt — that's where I see we have to maintain our flexibility," Smith said. "It's really fun to think about how you can build a Maricopa County of the future and keep investing in this amazing place to live," Gallego said. Phoenix — the nation’s fifth-largest city, with a population of about 1.6 million — was built for cars. Both Smith and Gallego said they hope the transportation plan will include flexibility that will allow the region to take advantage of new and still-unknown transportation options. FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2016 file photo, a Metro Light Rail train stops for passengers in Phoenix. The 5.14km-long Phase I from Montebello to Dunlap Avenue opened in March 2016. According to Gallego's news release, these funds are for the extension of the South Central Light Rail. In New York, for example, ridership on the subway dropped 90% in the first three months of the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the New York Times. She said she also hopes the plan includes funds for transportation innovation that will allow the region to adapt to new technology. Valley Metro and the city of Phoenix have requested over $500 million in potential federal funding for the project, which is expected to cost about $1.3 billion and open for operations in 2024. He said the point of the extension is not to bring riders to and from the mall. Avenue in downtown Phoenix, expansion of the existing Operations and Maintenance Center, purchase of 17 light rail vehicles, and construction of two park and ride lots with a total of 376 parking spaces. (PHOENIX, Ariz.) After experiencing almost an entire year of low ridership, Valley Metro is getting a boost in the form of $530 million from the Federal Transit Administration, The Arizona Republic reported. In North Carolina, a plan for a $2.4 billion light-rail line with 18 stops from Durham to Chapel Hill was discussed for two decades but was dropped in March after Duke University, whose campus would have been skirted by the line, opposed the project. The system was built in stages using federal transportation funds and three voter-approved sales tax increases. Bus ridership is down about 40%. FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2016 file photo, a Metro Light Rail train stops for passengers in Phoenix. “It won’t rank among the leading cities of this nation.”, Phoenix Votes to Expand Light Rail, as Cities Wrestle With Public Transit. Samuel Jordan, president of the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition, said the decision threw away opportunities for jobs and development. “Modernization is at risk,” Mike Huckins, a spokesman for the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, said this week, before the results of the citywide vote on the light-rail system’s future were announced. "I think (Metrocenter) will transition into one of the most exciting new developments in Phoenix history.". Michael Kelly, who said he has lived in south Phoenix his whole life, supports the project. Other cities that have tried to build extensive light-rail systems have seen mixed results. Light rail frequency has been reduced to every 15 minutes instead of every 12 minutes, and some bus lines have reduced capacity. Last year, a group of light rail detractors tried to stop the south central extension — and the entire light rail program — by putting the rail system back on the ballot. Americans for Prosperity has in the past coordinated door-to-door anti-transit canvassing campaigns for several local- or state-level ballot measures around the nation. In Baltimore, Maryland’s governor, Larry Hogan, deemed a transit line proposal too expensive, ending hopes for a link between the east and west sides of the city. "There are many people who are going to want to know it is safe before they come back, and so we have to be very intentional about that," she said. So we're going to plan accordingly as if we come back to some sort of normalcy within the next one to five years," Smith said. "In the next iteration, we can't simply plan to build more freeways and more rail lines like we have in the past," he said. 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