From: "Friends of Transit" To: Subject: Construction on track for light-rail system Date: Monday, September 26, 2005 6:59 PM Construction on track for light-rail system Metro's work on streets, storage site well under way Bob Golfen The Arizona Republic Sept. 25, 2005 12:00 AM Outside Rick Simonetta's office window, crews are tearing up Central Avenue for the Metro light-rail system. Simonetta can watch from above as this tiny portion of the gargantuan construction project begins to take shape. The bird's-eye view is appropriate, since Simonetta heads the entire $1.3 billion light-rail building program and the hundreds of contractors and suppliers involved. "There are just so many things that have to be meshed together," said Simonetta, chief executive officer of Valley Metro Rail. Light-rail construction is the biggest civil project ever attempted in Phoenix, said Pete Johnson, assistant director of the Phoenix Streets Department, with 13 miles of the 20-mile system being built on Phoenix streets before crossing into Tempe. "We haven't seen this type of project ever," Johnson said. "This is just unprecedented as far as construction goes." Phoenix drivers are starting to get a taste of the traffic snarls and lane restrictions that will confront them during more than three years of street work to complete the rail system, which is scheduled to open in December 2008. For now, hard-hat workers are digging into the street to reach sewers and utility lines that must be moved from underneath the light-rail right-of-way before any track can be laid. This first stage of construction for Metro, the relocation of utilities, will take as long as two years along the entire route. Current street construction in Phoenix and Tempe includes: • Washington Street in Phoenix approaching Tempe, which is the largest street now under construction, with several miles of road restricted by a maze of traffic cones and barriers. • Central and First avenues in downtown Phoenix, where drivers must navigate around closed lanes and heavy equipment. • The two northbound lanes of the Central Avenue bridge over Margaret Hance Deck Park that have been ripped up, with traffic routed to the southbound side. • Camelback Road, with some minor restrictions so far. Storefront buildings are being demolished on the south side of the street where it will be widened for additional traffic lanes. • Tempe Town Lake, where the concrete supports have been installed for the light-rail bridge. The steel bridge structure is being fabricated by a company in Coolidge. • Third Street between Mill and Ash avenues, parts of Apache Boulevard, Rio Salado Parkway and Lakeview Drive in Tempe, all restricted by construction. The street construction is separated into five independent project segments, with segments three, four and five and the Tempe Town Lake bridge now "seeing major activity," said Vicky Barron, director of design and construction for Metro. "By the end of the year, we'll have all the segments fully under construction along the entire route," Barron said. With nearly all of the main track line being placed on busy streets, light-rail builders and city officials in Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa have contended with a number of related issues concerning traffic, the underground utilities, complex right-of-way acquisition and business people concerned about access. "While there may be concern in the short term, there is a common feeling that, boy, in the long term, this is going to be good," Simonetta said. Street construction may be just getting under way, but work proceeds quickly on the rail system's most extensive construction project, the building of the Maintenance and Storage Facility east of Sky Harbor International Airport. This 40-acre facility, where system administration and maintenance of trains and track will be centered, includes the building of large structures with offices and shops and, initially, enough track sidings for overnight storage of 30 trains. "This is definitely a mega project," said Erick Aguilar, part of the team of civil engineers that is heading the facility's multifaceted construction. Crews have completed an arching concrete bridge to carry the light-rail trains over the Arizona Canal on a spur track from the main line on Washington Street to the rail yard. They recently began laying track over the bridge. The Maintenance and Storage Facility is working against a deadline for completion by the end of 2006, Simonetta said, to make way for delivery of the first rail cars from the Japanese firm Kinkisharyo. Line section four on Washington Street is also scheduled for completion at the same time so that Metro will have a place to test the new trains. "In the beginning of 2007, the cars are coming, so that by the time the cars come we'll have a place to store them and maintain them," he said. Valley Metro is still acquiring rights of way in many parts of the 20-mile alignment, Simonetta said. Some property owners could contest purchase prices and force cities to proceed with condemnations, which could be lengthy procedures and cause problems. As construction proceeds, traffic tie-ups are inevitable, Johnson said, with some stages of construction requiring brief closures of major streets as well as the continuous parade of restrictions. "These are all major streets they're working on that have a lot of traffic on them anyway," Johnson said. The utility relocation is a huge project in itself, Barron said. Over the entire 20-mile stretch, the private and public utility work will take 18 months to two years to complete. "There are about 400 utility relocations we have to manage, and they're all different," said Barron, who coordinates nearly every facet of light-rail construction. "We're trying to keep the severe disruption down to 12 months in any given area." The utilities are being moved away from beneath the light-rail track, Simonetta said, so that the system can avoid any disruptions caused by future problems with water, electrical or phone lines. Each segment of the utility work also can be something of a mystery, Simonetta added. "You dig into a 100-year-old street, and you don't know what you'll find," he said.