By BEX Staff for AZBEX
Despite the elimination of light rail expansion funding in the recently passed and signed bill to send the Proposition 400E Maricopa County half-cent transportation sales tax to voters for approval, area transportation officials say two planned extensions will go forward using other funding mechanisms.
An Aug. 2 article in The Arizona Republic quotes Maricopa Association of Governments Funding Policy Manager John Bullen as saying a planned extension running parallel to I-10 from downtown to 79th Avenue and another in the area of 19th and 43rd avenue between Bethany Home and Indian School Road can still proceed using allocations from other funding sources for Momentum 2050—the Maricopa County Regional Transportation Plan.
Those sources include state money, local transit taxes and federal matching funds.
It is important to note the second project is not a resurrection of the Glendale Light Rail Extension rejected by the Glendale City Council in 2017. The new project is known as West Phoenix in the current plan. In an email, MAG representatives said the City of Phoenix remained committed to a westerly project in the vicinity of the original project after Glendale’s earlier action and that Phoenix is currently under study to “inform a future Locally Preferred Alternative.”
The study area is shown as a green box in the Momentum Investment Plan map.
Representatives of Phoenix Mayor and recently elected MAG Chair Kate Gallego said the City is evaluating how it may use local transit taxes for the extensions and solidified her commitment to ensure the projects are delivered.
In addition to the two extensions, an existing plan will have to be revised. As part of the compromise legislation to authorize sending Prop 400E to the ballot, the light rail extension to the Capitol will have to be rerouted so it is no longer directly adjacent. Light rail now cannot be built in the area between 17th and 18th avenues on Jefferson or Adams streets.
Valley Metro CEO Jessica Mefford-Miller said her agency and the City of Phoenix will work together to create a new route. Phoenix will be responsible for any additional costs due to the rerouting.