Posted Mar 7, 2017, 3:25 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2009
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Here you go.
Tempe streetcar project on track, but community expectations are mixed
Tempe is on track to host the Valley’s first streetcar through an estimated $186 million transportation development.
Streetcars have recently returned to popularity, with new construction springing up in Tucson and other cities across the U.S. Advocates say they add an option to the web of public transportation and bring development to surrounding areas.
Here is the proposed Tempe streetcar route and how it connects with the existing Valley Metro light rail.
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Here is the proposed Tempe streetcar route and how it connects with the existing Valley… more
VALLEY METRO
The three-mile Tempe streetcar will require tracks, built to enable it to share the lane with traffic. It will run on electricity from an overhead line with stops down Mill Avenue and across Apache Boulevard connecting to Metro light rail at both ends.
Reactions remain mixed among local businesses as to the purpose the downtown Tempe streetcar will serve and how construction disruption will affect them.
“I think it will help ... with more people having access down here easier and not having to worry about parking and paying the meters,” said Rose Baronovic, assistant manager of Juut Salon Spa, who hopes the streetcar will bring new opportunities to her Mill Avenue location.
Others, like Steve Goumas, founder of Rula Bula Tempe Irish Pub, are skeptical. He doubts the streetcar will have much impact on business. He notes that he heard the claims of significant business improvement from the nearby light rail line years ago, but his business didn’t experience any benefits.
The majority of the project’s price tag is split between federal grant funding and regional transportation taxes, with a small portion coming from the city of Tempe.
The route for the streetcar is set, but other design and construction decisions are currently under debate. Corinne Holliday, Valley Metro public information specialist, said the design will be 30 percent done by the next public meeting, scheduled for April 19.
Tempe streetcar plans have evolved over the past 10 years and now progress is moving forward with both a construction and design firm on board. Stacy and Witbeck signed on as the construction firm in January and brings a wealth of past streetcar-building experience to the project.
According to the National Transportation Database, streetcars currently in operation are, on average, slower and cost more to move passengers per mile than current light rails or buses. Ram Pendyala, director of a new U.S Department of Transportation research center, says focusing on that is missing the point.
“So when you think of a streetcar it’s more of an identity,” said Pendyala, who is also a professor at Arizona State University. “Nobody’s really seeing the streetcar as some major transportation service or mobility instrument.”
However, Holliday contends that the streetcar helps to address a critical transportation need in downtown Tempe.
“The streets on the streetcar route in Tempe are near capacity in terms of vehicles. So streetcar meets the need to improve transit options without dramatically impacting the streetscape.” said Holliday. “Bus service on the other hand wouldn’t meet the need ... the route needed something more robust.”
Pendyala said even if the streetcar doesn’t bring more mobility, it doesn’t mean the money is misspent. He said it is hard to determine what the optimum project would be to spend transportation funds. He thinks the streetcar will help circulate people already in the Mill Avenue area. Transportation infrastructure also has a long-observed correlation with development.
Development of this kind can be hard to measure because it is difficult pinpoint the exact cause. Oftentimes major infrastructure investments such as streetcars are in up-and-coming areas, making it hard to track the change in development against what would have organically occurred. Pendyala said there are techniques that attempt to solve these problems, but complexities remain and studies must be constructed carefully.
The city still has important decisions to make about streetcar construction schedule and design details. Goumas hopes the construction schedule will be minimally invasive and balked at the idea of a free system like that in Kansas City.
“I can find nothing short term that relates to any businesses and there’s a lot of concern,” said Gourmas. He added, “I don’t know why it would be free, that’s not fair to the surrounding areas.”
Holliday said the specifics of the construction schedule should be completed over the next few months and possible fares are under discussion. She encouraged businesses or residents to reach out with concerns.
Some residents say there is nothing the city could do to get them on board. Arizona State University graduate Tashi Pratt-King has lived in Tempe for nine years and she thinks the streetcar will fail to serve the local community.
“This will directly impact my home and my work,” said Pratt-King in an online interview. “It’s a waste of federal money.”
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