By Tasha Anderson for Arizona Builder’s Exchange
Valley Metro’s Manager of Capital Planning, Abhi Dayal, gave a detailed update on their rail capital program on Thursday, May 18 to share what’s on the horizon for Valley Metro in the next 20 years.
He spoke at the Market Intelligence: What’s Happening with MIHS, Valley Metro, and Town of Gilbert event hosted by Society of Marketing Professional Services, Arizona Chapter.
“We’ve got a lot going on, a total of sixty-six miles of light-rail high-capacity transit,” he said.
Dayal began his presentation by pointing out some of the projects that have been advanced/added thanks to Proposition 104 – the $31.5B plan approved by voters in Aug 2015 to fund light-rail expansion – and giving status updates.
The list includes:
- South Central LRT Extension: Advanced by 11 years and is currently in the project development phase. Valley Metro has received environmental clearance and preliminary engineering is nearly complete. The entire project is anticipated to be complete in 2023.
- Northwest LRT Extension Phase II: Advanced by three years and is currently in the environmental/preliminary engineering phase. The draft environmental assessment is in review with the Federal Transit Administration and design is 15 percent finished. Completion is expected in 2023.
- 50th Street Light Rail Station: The new light rail station at 50th St and Washington that was added after Proposition 104 was approved. The project is currently in the final design phase and is targeted for a 2019 completion.
- Capitol/I-10 West LRT Phase I: A 2-mile extension located at the State Capitol currently in the environmental assessment phase. The project started out as an 11-mile corridor and was split into two phases after Proposition 104. Phase I is expected to be complete in 2023.
Dayal touched on other projects in various stages of development as well, including Tempe Streetcar, the 3-mile trackway that extends from Rio Salado Parkway south to Apache Boulevard.
“We are now in final design and we’re working with the FTA to get this project funded… and we also anticipate starting utility relocation work this summer,” he said.
At the end of his presentation, Dayal introduced the operations and maintenance center expansion project currently in the conceptual design phase. The expansion will help accommodate the new light rail cars and streetcars.
“This project is very early on in just identifying what the need is and how big of a footprint we would need to get to, to allow for all of this expansion,” he said.
They anticipate issuing a design-build procurement for the operations and maintenance center expansion in late 2017.
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