The Tempe City Council will consider a measure this week to allocate $1.2M toward studying extending its streetcar transit service into Mesa. If approved, Mesa will spend $800K and the two will join with Valley Metro, which will actually perform the study.
The plan under consideration would extend the Tempe Streetcar route along Dobson Road and Rio Salado Parkway.
Mesa officials view the addition as a powerful economic development opportunity and say it meets a significant transit need on the west side of the city.
The study and public outreach effort will look at the feasibility of the extension and what routes would be most useful. As currently envisioned, the expansion would go along Rio Salado and pass Tempe Marketplace, Sloan Park and up to Mesa Riverview, where it then goes south along Dobson Road to Main Street and the light rail.
Specific items to be examined include whether the line should go in the middle of the street or the curb lane and what utility conflicts it could encounter.
While Tempe’s ridership has not met the pre-COVID projects for use, the numbers have increased dramatically over the seven months of operation. The service saw 17,000 riders when it launched in May and ballooned to a peak of 70,000 by November. Valley Metro reports approximately 382,000 riders in total between May and January. First-year totals could reach 500,000, markedly lower than the 800,000 to one million initially projected before the pandemic and supply chain delays impacted the launch.
The Mesa project’s ultimate development will be contingent on a renewal of the Proposition 400 half-cent transportation tax, which is currently tied up in the Arizona State Legislature. Tempe Streetcar cost nearly $270M, most of which came through a combination of federal money and Prop 400 matching funds.
The federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would be a likely funding source for the new project. Arizona could receive $6B under the program, with more than $884M dedicated to transportation projects.
Local Prop 400 matching funds would be an essential requirement for federal money, but officials are hopeful a renewal will make its way to voters and be approved. Having a complete study and plan in place will give the Mesa Streetcar project a competitive advantage when going after federal funding, according to local officials.
Some Mesa officials are already discussing the possibility of a second extension that would go past the city’s Asian district and down to Southern Avenue. (Source)