The Metro light rail is expanding its grasp further into central Mesa with a 3.1 mile extension that will stretch from Dobson road to Mesa Drive along Main Street.
Valley Metro recently received a Finding of No Significant Impact award from the Federal Transit Administration. The FONSI takes into account how the project will affect the surrounding community.
The environmental assessment began in December 2010 with a draft that allowed the public and surrounding community to provide their input.
“In June 2011, we did a final draft of the environmental assessment which incorporated all the comments we received for the draft environmental assessment,” Valley Metro Community Outreach Coordinator Lisa Procknow said.
The first two years of the project were spent deciding the route and whether the project should be an extension of the light rail or a move for more express bus routes.
A 41-member committee composed of businesses, property owners, residents, and concerned citizens helped to determine the station location, the traffic configuration, and other urban design elements.
“So, we worked very closely with the community to determine that it is going to be light rail on Main Street,” Procknow said.
Now that the environmental assessment is finished, it allows Valley Metro and the City of Mesa to move forward.
“The FONSI, not only is it a milestone, it also allows us to activate in other areas,” said Valley Metro Public Information Officer Hillary Foose. “We can begin utility relocation … and, likewise, real estate acquisition when we’re ready also.”
Valley Metro and the City of Mesa are not ready to begin at the moment. Utility relocation is expected to begin in early 2012.
“We need to work with the design a little bit to help us understand our needs and then we can begin to have those discussions,” Foose said.
The project will cost $200 million and $80 million of that will come from Proposition 400, a half-cent transportation sales tax that lasts until 2025. Valley Metro hopes to receive $75 million from the FTA’s Small Starts grant, a grant for improvements to public transportation costing less than $250 million. Another $40 million could also come from the Congestion, Mitigation, and Air Quality grant, a grant that is awarded to projects that deal with air quality issues.
Sixty percent of the design has been completed so far and the project is expected to open in early 2016.
If more funds become available in the future an extension of the light rail could move down Main Street to Gilbert Road.
Valley Metro also has plans for an extension in West Phoenix to connect the Metro starter line to the park-and-ride at 79th Avenue.
That project is scheduled to open in 2021.
Reach the reporter at Ryan.McCullough@asu.edu
