by William Lindley
Glendale is gearing up for a transit election this autumn, the purpose of which is to extend the Central Phoenix - East Valley light rail system westward. The terminus of the light rail in Glendale will be “downtown” which, one hopes, will include a multimodal station at the Santa Fe depot just north of 59th Avenue and Glendale, where commuter train riders from Wickenburg and the Sun Cities could transfer to the light rail for destinations like Central Avenue.
Meanwhile, Scottsdale is continuing its North-South corridor study. The most promising option is light rail along Scottsdale Road down to Curry Road, where the line would proceed west to approximately the Red River Opry for a connection to the Phoenix - Tempe route; from there, trains would proceed south to the station by the once and future Tempe Amtrak/commuter rail depot, ASU, and thence south along Rural or McClintock. Other light rail options would entail yet another new Salt River bridge. Busways are also under consideration, as is an express bus on Route 101. In addition to the light rail on Scottsdale Road, I would like to see a limited stop bus run along Pima Road – not the highway – connecting the ends of all the east-west local bus routes from Phoenix and Scottsdale down to Tempe and the rail terminals.
Furthermore, the MAG/Valley Metro/RPTA sponsored Commuter Rail study is set to begin, with funding from the Salt River Project, and strong support from East and West Valley cities.
All this is the fruits of our many years of hard work… THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!
