Modern streetcars may be coming to Mill Avenue as early as 2016, according to recommendations made by Valley Metro.
Valley Metro and the Federal Transit Administration performed a three-year study of south Tempe and Chandler that led to the Tempe South project, which proposes a modern streetcar loop along Mill and Ash avenues and a Bus Rapid Transit system on Rural Road.
Project officials recommend a streetcar because it is less invasive to put one into an existing street and would blend well with the traffic on Mill.
Discussion of the project took place at a public meeting in Tempe Thursday night.
For now, discussion of the 19-mile Bus Rapid Transit recommendation has ceased as a result of the economic downturn.
A modern streetcar would be much like the light rail in its appearance, electric power source and rail-based route, said Hillary Foose, a spokeswoman for Valley Metro.
The streetcar, as Metro proposes, would be on a 2.6-mile, one-way loop, carry about 130 people and would act as a normal vehicle in traffic, stopping on the street instead of at stations.
The loop would cost $163 million to build and an annual $3 million to maintain. Valley Metro would pay half of the streetcar construction with funds from The Regional Transportation Plan, a program created after county voters approved a half-cent transportation sales tax in 2004. Transit officials plan to ask for federal grant money to pay for the other half.
Marketing junior Daylon Bennett, who works as a bartender at Robbie Fox’s Public House on Mill Avenue, said he questions the need for a new transit system.
“I would use it for sure,” Bennett said. “But the thing about Mill is that everything is just there. Is it necessary? Probably not.”
Foose said that although a lot of people might be skeptical of the need for a streetcar, she is confident it would be useful.
“There are a lot of people who would ride a streetcar more than they’d ride a bus,” Foose said.
Jyme Sue McLaren, interim community development manager for Tempe, said choosing a streetcar system over busses for the Mill Avenue area is a smart way to bring business to Tempe.
“When you lay track on a street, developers want to build there,” McLaren said.
Foose acknowledged it might be difficult for people to see the benefits of spending so much money on projects, but Tempe has to grow and adapt.
“We have to continue planning for the future.”
The Tempe South project is part of the 57 miles of high capacity transit to be constructed in the greater Phoenix Metropolitan area by 2031 under the Regional Transportation Plan.
Reach the reporter at svaltier@asu.edu
