TEMPE

Is Tempe ready for a $177 million downtown streetcar?

Chris Coppola
The Republic | azcentral.com
A Valley Metro rendering shows what a future streetcar might look like as it travels through Tempe.

A year from now, downtown Tempe's main drag could become, well, a drag.

At least that's the way it might seem for commuters and businesses located along Mill Avenue, a popular Valley entertainment strip lined with restaurants, bars and shops that is, in many ways, the lifeblood of downtown Tempe.

Mill is included as part of a 3-mile loop around downtown and Arizona State University where a new local streetcar system will be built if a federal funding proposal is passed this year. It will extend west from Rio Salado Parkway starting near the Marina Heights complex, looping around Ash Avenue and Mill, then extending south on Mill to Apache Boulevard, where it would link to the Dorsey Lane light-rail stop.

Will businesses be affected?

Traffic on Mill Avenue, February 9, 2016, Tempe, Arizona.

The construction could begin in early 2017 and continue into 2019, when the line is expected to open. Work will be disruptive, businesses say, but they also recognize the long-term benefits.

"I tend to believe, given the dramatic increase in density, that the downtown area is going to suffer from gridlock in the not-too-distant future unless we can provide alternatives to the automobile and the streetcar is one of those alternatives,'' said Vic Linoff, who owns what for years was known as the Goodwin Building on Mill Avenue, where he leases space to four businesses, including Cactus Jack's team-wear shop.

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Linoff likened the disruption to a 1987 project that brought new sewer lines and landscaping along Mill in downtown. It tore up streets and created a mess for an extended period that hurt businesses, including Linoff's shop, "Those Were The Days,''  a used-book store he operated in his building at the time.

"The street was literally torn up for six months. It dramatically affected businesses,'' he said. “You’re willing to make the sacrifices for the benefits you gain when you’re done. This project, while extremely disruptive, has benefits on the other side."

The streetcar system would differ from light rail in several ways: While the cars may look similar, they will be smaller. They will make more frequent stops, similar to buses. And the streetcar will run on rails that share lanes with vehicle traffic. The city is exploring alternatives to overhead electrical lines to power the cars.

Most important to city officials and local businesses, it will provide a way to move people around downtown without the need for hopping into a car, a critical need as the area becomes more populated with residential towers and major business sites, such as the massive State Farm Insurance complex, where up to 9,000 people are expected to work.

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Does Tempe have the funding?

President Obama's budget proposal, which is subject to congressional approval, includes $75 million  for Tempe to help finance design and construction of the $177 million project. City officials say the project could not move forward without the federal money.

The Downtown Tempe Authority, a district made up of more than 100 downtown property owners and a few hundred businesses that operate in the area, has endorsed the streetcar proposal even though it will bring temporary disruption, said Kate Borders, the group's executive director.

"A lot of them have fears about construction and how that would impact them,'' Borders said. "We’ve tried to be very informative and inclusive of all of the businesses that will be impacted.''

Borders said the authority's board of directors, comprised of property owners, business owners and residents, endorsed the plan in large part because of the need to have alternative transportation options around downtown as more people live, work and visit the area.

"Downtown is very dense and we continue to build upward, which is what you want in an urban center,'' she said. "This is a good step for us. It's the direction we need to be going in ... so we have people circulating downtown with ease.''

Streetcar's reach raises questions

Traffic on Mill Avenue, February 9, 2016, Tempe, Arizona.

Tempe officials say if the federal funding is approved in the 2017 budget, design work will begin later this year and construction could begin in early 2017. The goal is to have the line completed in 2019.

Other funding would come from a regional transportation sales tax adopted by Maricopa County voters, a local transit sales tax in Tempe and a Maricopa Association of Governments fund for projects that mitigate traffic congestion and improve air quality.

Even as plans move forward, opinions differ on how beneficial the streetcar system will be, given its cost. Questions over the effectiveness of a limited, 3-mile line around downtown and ASU's main campus persist.

Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell said the streetcar is an initial step to a system that eventually could reach other destinations that light rail does not reach, particularly east along Rio Salado Parkway to Tempe Marketplace, and perhaps someday reaching into Mesa, with stops at the Chicago Cubs spring training complex and the nearby Riverview shopping center.

The streetcar also will be an important asset for ASU's Athletics Facilities District, envisioned as a major redevelopment on property around the northeast corner of the university over the next 10 to 20 years.

"I just know the streetcar route, it’s for future generations as well. It will help move people around the downtown area,'' Mitchell said.

City Council candidate ideas

But some of the six candidates running for City Council in the March 8 election have differing views. While all agree there's little use in trying to fight the plan, several say its limited service area is shortsighted.

“I don’t see the trolley really bringing a lot of benefit in terms of relieving downtown from the excessive traffic we already have,'' said candidate Ernesto Fonseca, using a term for the system that the city prefers to avoid. Fonseca is owner and managing partner of the Elemental Group, a Phoenix-based business that works with Valley cities on urban redevelopment projects.

"I would be designing the trolley to take people to the south and not keep revolving people just around (downtown) for coffee and lunch," he said during a recent candidates forum.

Randy Keating, another candidate, also lamented that planning did not include southern Tempe.

“A big problem in the city is the perception of there’s two Tempes — there's north Tempe and there’s everybody else,'' he said during the forum. "I think it’s a shame that the streetcar only services the downtown area. If you can’t walk from Apache to Rio Salado you probably have bigger problems than the lack of a streetcar.’’

Joel Navarro, an incumbent councilman seeking re-election, said the streetcar, while not perfect, is a necessary first step to help downtown congestion and create for extensions to other parts of Tempe. “We pitched the idea of the streetcar and how the streetcar can be so accessible and usable and we can build on it, especially with our urban downtown,'' he said.

Councilman Kolby Granville, another incumbent seeking re-election, said initial proposed routes suggested the idea of having the streetcar move further south, but the idea was rejected by federal officials, who had to sign off on the route before recommending the funds.

During a media briefing on the federal funding proposal, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, in response to a question from The Republic, said the Tempe project was recommended because of its expected benefit in the city's downtown area, alleviating traffic congestion and helping to reinforce Tempe's economic development efforts in the area.