Metro Phoenix Transit/Transportation Developments - Page 11

vertex · #**201** Posted **Apr 26, 2007, 8:49 PM**

Well, at least they are all locally based companies (Chase field the exception).

vertex · #**202** Posted **Apr 27, 2007, 10:08 AM**

I've started a thread in the transportation forum, but just thought I'd show some of the pics and videos here too.

I just wish they didn't do their testing at 2:00 am.

Anybody know how to embed the video clips?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avc2ABwyFSY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEQGa6K-Qzw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKi_nBLz80

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G_16QRBuM0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsUtCbt-9GQ
I was a bit late starting the camera for this clip; the train started from a complete stop just a second before, but you can still see how it really takes off! The project manager told me later that the train got up to 52 mph.

And now for a few pics:

jvbahn · #**203** Posted **Apr 27, 2007, 10:29 AM**

Thank you, Vertex, excellent work....when you're working hard at 2AM, I'm having lunch and enjoying your efforts.

She looks good!

Ok, gotta run catch the subway

vertex · #**204** Posted **Apr 27, 2007, 10:44 AM**

Thanks JV, I live about 10 minutes away, and figured it wouldn't hurt to go down there and see if I could catch the train. The high-speed test was announced on the news a couple of nights before, so it wasn't a secret. There were about 50 workers, several police to manage traffic, about 10-12 media people and cameramen, and about a dozen onlookers.

sundevilgrad · #**205** Posted **Apr 27, 2007, 1:48 PM**

Does anyone know how long the trains will be? The test was obviously just one car, but I wonder how many cars will make up the operational train.

vertex · #**206** Posted **Apr 27, 2007, 4:54 PM**

They are supposed to be 3-car trains during peak demand periods.

Azndragon837 · #**207** Posted **Apr 27, 2007, 5:33 PM**

Here are two photos (very grainy, sorry) of the Light Rail Maintenance Yard near the airport. I was on the ASU Downtown-ASU Tempe shuttle bus while it was turning the curve on Loop 202, and I managed to get 2 shots this morning.

You can see the light rail bridge in the foreground that goes over the railroad tracks below, and in the center, you can see all the light rail trains covered in green tarp. Along the entrance to the yard near 48th Street, trains are being stored along the road leading into the yard as well (you can see them when you take the SR-143 northbound on-ramp into the airport).

Here, you can see the buildings that make-up the yard. One of the five bay doors is open, and the light rail train is probably inside being tested. Sometimes you can see the train outside.

-Andrew

FireMedic · #**208** Posted **Apr 27, 2007, 7:27 PM**

cool pictures

vertex · #**209** Posted **Apr 28, 2007, 1:14 AM**

plane...train...automobile...

HooverDam · #**210** Posted **Apr 28, 2007, 1:33 AM**

I got an email from Valley Metro, they said that once Light Rail is up and running there will be a way on their website to punch in your start and end stations and get an estimation on ride length.

Tfom · #**211** Posted **Apr 28, 2007, 1:56 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HooverDam

I got an email from Valley Metro, they said that once Light Rail is up and running there will be a way on their website to punch in your start and end stations and get an estimation on ride length.

It would be nice if they put some of this information out now, like I said in another post, most of what I have seen makes it seem as if you can walk faster than the train (I'm exaggerating a bit). Even though I knew it was bogus, I think people buy into this.

vertex · #**212** Posted **Apr 28, 2007, 2:19 AM**

While talking with a Valley metro project manager last night during the test, he told me that the trains would never go over 35 mph while on any street, regardless of the street's posted speed limit. The only opportunity for the trains to go faster (at least on the starter segment) are on parts of the line where they don't share the RoW with cars, mainly the segment near the town lake bridge.

However, he did say that the trains will still be able to go end-to-end in 1 hour, thanks to the modified predictive-priority operation. He also said that the top travel time from Tempe to DT will be 20 minutes or less.

A couple of other things he mentioned: a fare structure that will be the same for trains and buses, and the ability to buy daily, weekly, and monthly passes, probably at reduced rates.

Azndragon837 · #**213** Posted **Apr 28, 2007, 2:21 AM**

^Thanks for the info! I am already sold about the project. Where I live, it's only 1.5 miles to the nearest station WITH a park-and-ride, so I will definately be using it to get around.

-Andrew

sundevilgrad · #**214** Posted **Apr 28, 2007, 4:28 AM**

I can't wait to get on the LTR, go to a Suns or Diamondbacks game, get bombed at the game, the Roosevelt or Seamus' and the ride back to the digs in Tempe! 20 min or less? Sweet. I'll buy it.

andrewkfromaz · #**215** Posted **Apr 28, 2007, 6:09 AM**

^ The only caveat: we don't know for sure what hours the system will run. It's still under consideration. I hope it will be at least as late as 2 am, but we'll have to wait and see...
Thanks Vertex for the pictures. Super exciting!

Vicelord John · #**216** Posted **Apr 28, 2007, 6:13 AM**

one thing about this project that pisses me off is there is no station at washington/jefferson and 7th street. Only 12th and 3rd streets will get stations, like they completely effed the ballpark, and me!!!

I have to walk THREE FUCKING BLOCKS to get to a station. Lame, I'm getting the car out for that.

Azndragon837 · #**217** Posted **Apr 28, 2007, 11:07 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrewkfromaz

^ The only caveat: we don't know for sure what hours the system will run. It's still under consideration. I hope it will be at least as late as 2 am, but we'll have to wait and see...
Thanks Vertex for the pictures. Super exciting!

Ohhhh, I like those photos too! I just realized those photos were there (the previous page).

-Andrew

Azndragon837 · #**218** Posted **Apr 28, 2007, 12:32 PM**

Plus, I need to get out there at night with my digital camera and take some videos as well.

sundevilgrad · #**219** Posted **May 2, 2007, 2:48 AM**

50 businesses may be in way of airport train
Jahna Berry
The Arizona Republic
May. 1, 2007 06:48 PM

A key part of the airport's planned $1.1 billion automated train project could force as many as 50 businesses to relocate or close by fall 2008.

On Wednesday, Phoenix City Council is expected to green light a plan to acquire more than 13 acres just south of 44th and Washington streets. It could cost between $40 million and $50 million to buy the land, an airport official said. Phoenix hopes to avoid condemnation, but the council's decision would clear the way for Phoenix to use eminent domain if necessary, said Deputy Aviation Director Jane Morris.

But Phoenix is in sensitive political territory.
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A Valley brake shop's bout with Mesa officials became a rallying cry for property rights. In November, Arizona voters passed a ballot proposition that boosted property rights.

And some business owners in the project's path worry that it will be tough to find new homes for their industrial shops.

Phoenix plans to work closely with the merchants, the mayor said.

"I think in the end the vast majority of the property owners and tenants will be satisfied with the process," said Mayor Phil Gordon.

"The area that was chosen is an area that has a lot of blight ... and it's soon to be the front door to the single largest economic engine in the state of Arizona," he added.

When the the 4.8-mile system is complete, airline passengers could avoid driving to Sky Harbor. It's a critical part of city plans to manage growth at the eigth busiest airport in the nation.

The city plans to break ground on the first mile of the automated train project by fall 2008. The segment would run from the planned station near 44th Street to Terminal 4.

Phoenix is eyeing 13 acres of privately owned land to build a train station that's within walking distance of the future 44th Street Metro light rail stop. The city plans to appraise each business and property by the end of the year. Next, the city will make offers, said Morris of the airport.

The property's boundaries are the canal, 42nd Street, the railroad tracks and Arizona 153.

It's a rough and tumble industrial district filled with a close-knit community of small businesses. Several shop owners own the land outright and say they can't afford pricey property or rents elsewhere.

"It could be the one thing that puts a business under," said Jack Daniel, manager for Markham & Decker, Inc., a business that supplies commercial doors.

The 44-year-old business moved near the airport in the 1980s when land prices were low, he said.

Woodworker Bryan Maguire said the move would take him far from his suppliers.

"Until they make an offer, we are sitting in limbo," said Maguire who leases space for his business, Natural Design.

The city will have to balance the airport's and the merchants' needs, said Councilwoman Peggy Bilsten who's chaired the city council's transportation subcommittee for 12 years.

Valley residents have clamored for the automated train for years, she said. But "we want (business) people to know that they were treated with respect."

The 13 acres is the only private land that stand in path of the project, said Morris, the deputy aviation director. The rest sits on airport property.

When it's finished, light rail passengers can get off at the 44th Street stop, and walk to the train station. There, they can check their luggage, grab a boarding pass and hop on the driverless train that will take them to airport terminals and the rental car center.

The first phase for the automated train project will cost an estimated $420 million and will open in 2013. The rest of the line, which would go to Terminals 2 and 3 and the car rental center, would cost $660 million and won't open until 2020.

Reporter Casey Newton contributed to this story.

sundevilgrad · #**220** Posted **May 2, 2007, 2:52 AM**

Yet another battle over land breweing here in the Valley.

My opinion... Bulldoze those pieces of crap and get that train built. It should've been part of the original light rail plans anyway.