Subject: Light rail in the news today! Date: Monday, July 30, 2007 8:53 PM Stores seek rebound from light-rail falloff Garin Groff, Tribune Construction is nearly complete along eight miles of the Metro light-rail route — but the pain didn’t vanish when the final backhoe rolled away. View light rail map Merchants along that stretch of the route in east Phoenix and Tempe said customers have grown so used to avoiding construction along the 20-mile system that they incorrectly assume everything is still torn up. Those business owners are now trying to figure out how to let their customers know several miles of streets are back to normal. “Getting them back in the habit is going to be hard,” said Gary Lasko, one of the owners of the landmark Stockyards Restaurant in east Phoenix. “I don’t know how you get that out — letting people know they’ve got it done. It’s great now.” Metro has completed eight continuous miles of the track, and the roads are mostly back to normal in that stretch from McClintock Drive and Apache Boulevard in Tempe to Washington Street and 44th Street in Phoenix. Business isn’t back to normal at Pier 49 Pizza at Washington Street and Priest Drive, where construction is complete. Owner Brian Jacobson said business dropped 17 percent during the work — and the plaza he is in “was just dead on a daily basis” for six weeks of especially intense work. He’s also trying to get word out to customers that the street is in good shape now. “Now that it’s done, it’s better than it was before,” Jacobson said. “The roadway is nicer looking, cleaner.” Several business owners gave high marks to contractors for trying to ease the pain. But where construction is still intense, that’s not enough to overcome drivers’ aversion to construction. Walk-in traffic is down 50 percent at City Billiards on Main Street in west Mesa, employee Jim Sears said. He’s been frustrated at the number of times potential customers will call and say they’re excited about visiting his business and then refuse to come. “As soon as I tell them our location, they’ll say ‘I don’t want to come down there. They’ve got all that construction going on,’” Sears said. The most intense light-rail construction should end by early 2008. All the track will be in place by then, which means crews will have already finished moving utilities and will have repaved the rough roads. The final touches of installing the overhead wires and building the stations will take place out of the roadway, Metro spokeswoman Marty McNeil said. “Typically, we’re working inside our own guide way, so if you’re driving your car, it’s all good for you,” McNeil said. Light-rail passenger service is scheduled to begin in December 2008 on the $1.4 billion system. _____ Business owners excited by end of rail construction Jennifer Price The Arizona Republic Jul. 29, 2007 12:00 AM After more than two years of barricades, potholes, blinking lights and closed streets, eight miles of light-rail track in east Phoenix and west Tempe are finished, leaving streets clear for motorists and free of roadway construction. While that doesn't mean the light-rail system is up and running - that won't happen till late next year - it does mean that the construction is now out of the streets and motorists can easily access businesses. "The streets have been returned to commuters," said Marty McNeil, Metro's spokeswoman, about those areas. "We'll still be doing construction, but typically we're doing it off to the side so we're not messing up your driving. And if we do mess up your driving, it'll only be a few cones for a few days." Electrical wires still need to be installed, a task that won't require Metro to work in the streets, McNeil said. Light-rail trains will be powered by electricity from overhead wires. Traffic lanes, landscaping and streetlights also still need to be completed. McNeil said Metro's Line Section 4, which runs along Washington Street east of 26th Street and includes the already completed eight-mile track, should be completed in December. Most business owners in east Phoenix and Tempe say business has picked up, but not enough. Barb Darroch, owner of Hap's Pit Barbecue at the corner of 48th and Washington streets, said business has picked up in the past four weeks since the roadway construction finished. She is hoping it will continue to climb. "The roads are better, but everyone's afraid to come here," Darroch said. "We need to get our customers back. We've lost a lot of money." Darroch's neighbor, Samurai Sam's Teriyaki Grill, said business has rebounded well. "It seems like every week it's getting better and more consistent," said Lester Steward, owner of Samurai Sam's. "We're really hoping that it will pick up even more once the light rail starts." Gary Lasko, owner of Stockyards Restaurant near 50th and Washington streets, said it's annoying to have had construction in front of his historic restaurant for two years and then not have a light-rail stop within walking distance. The closest stop is at 44th and Washington streets. McNeil said adding a stop once the system is built is highly unlikely because the cost would be so prohibitive. "It's brutal, but it is what it is," Lasko said. "You can't fight it. . . People get in the habit of avoiding the light-rail construction." Lasko recently had to close his restaurant on Sundays. Just a few blocks away, Judy Shultz, owner of Draw 10 Café & Lounge, had to do the same. "Traffic hasn't really come back since the construction stopped. Business has dropped off 30 to 40 percent," she said. "Our customers gave up on trying to get here." Shultz doesn't think the light-rail system will benefit her business once it's finished because her customers are going to drive. "The jury is still out if it's going to be a viable means of transportation, if it's really going to serve its purpose," Lasko said. Metro has two programs designed to help businesses market and get their customers back. Business owners along the light-rail track can offer a discount through the Metro Max Program. With that, Metro distributes discount cards across the city to encourage people to visit these businesses. Once construction is finished, Metro also distributes fliers advertising businesses that are accessible. Despite construction gripes and lost customers, Metro is still on schedule to open the light-rail system to the public in December 2008. Roadway construction in Mesa and east Tempe will be completed in next spring. Central and west Phoenix won't be clear until next summer. The first public art will be installed later this summer at a downtown station. Although some train testing has already begun on Washington, Metro will be testing trains without passengers throughout the entire 20-mile route in spring. Once testing begins, Metro will give the public a chance to see a train and step into it, McNeil said. Once December 2008 rolls around, McNeil said Metro plans to have a "pretty significant celebration" for the light-rail system's grand opening. "We are going to open on a weekend, and we will let people ride the system for free so they can learn the system, learn how to use it and enjoy the accomplishment that we've all made it through," she said. _____ Mesa makes changes to prepare for light rail Kerry Fehr-Snyder The Arizona Republic Jul. 28, 2007 08:12 AM Several Southeast Valley cities plan to tweak their bus routes and schedules while building park-and-ride lots to attract passengers to light-rail line stations opening late next year. Mesa, Tempe and Chandler are making the adjustments as a way to extend the reach of the $1.4billion, 20-mile light-rail line. Mesa Mesa will introduce rapid-transit service from Superstition Springs Mall to its Sycamore Street light-rail station, east of Dobson Road. The service, scheduled to begin in December 2008, will take passengers north-south along Power Road from the mall near U.S. 60 and then east-west on Main Street to the Sycamore Street station. That station is the end of the line for the eastern portion of the light-rail system. "We really see this as a rubber-tire extension of the light rail," said Mike James, Mesa's deputy transportation director. The new route is an express service that will stop about every mile compared with standard bus routes that stop every quarter mile or more often. The rapid bus transit service, which is being paid for with Proposition 400 sales tax money, will feature more stylized buses that set them apart from standard city buses. In addition, the Sycamore Transit Center will feature electronic signs telling passengers when the next rapid-transit bus is coming so that riders can plan trips to and from the light-rail line. Mesa also is building a dedicated park-and-ride lot with more than 200 spaces for passengers coming from the eastern part of the city. It has plans to build other park-and-ride lots at Power Road and Loop 202 and Gilbert Road and Loop 202 in the future. Tempe Tempe will modify several of its bus routes to time them with the light-rail system's arrivals and departures. "We're definitely going to need to modify our routes," said Sue Taaffe, a Tempe spokeswoman. One of its most popular bus lines, Route 81, runs north-south on McClintock Drive before turning west on University Drive to head to downtown Tempe. But after the light-rail line opens in December 2008, Tempe will reroute the bus line to turn west on Apache Boulevard, where passengers can pick up light rail at its McClintock/Apache station. Route 1 along Washington Street will be removed from the bus route in Tempe because it follows a similar path being built for the light-rail line. Similarly, the Red Line that takes passengers from Apache Boulevard to Sky Harbor International Airport will change to a Tempe-only route because riders will be able to take light rail instead. Tempe also plans to coordinate the service provided by its three new Orbit neighborhood circulator buses and its two modified Orbit routes to tie into the light rail schedule, Taaffe said. In addition, it is building three park-and-ride lots along the city's 5.5-mile portion of the line. The lots are near three of its light-rail stations. There will be 700 parking spaces at its Price Road station, 300 spaces at its McClintock Road station and 100 spaces at its Dorsey Lane station between McClintock and Rural roads. Chandler Mesa also is planning a second rapid-transit bus line in cooperation with Chandler. It would run along Arizona Avenue/Country Club Drive and bring passengers from as far south as the a park-and-ride lot to be built at Tumbleweed Park at Germann Road and Arizona Avenue in Chandler, which will be operating then, north to the Sycamore light-rail station. The route would begin about two years after light rail begins service in 2008, James said. Susan Tierney, spokeswoman for Valley Metro, which operates the system under the name Metro, said the park-and-ride lots and local bus service are key to making light rail a success. "Basically we look at the system as being complementary," she said of the extended bus routes. "You can't have light rail without bus. You have to have a system that gets people to the light rail system efficiently." _____ Feature Story - June 2007 Sustainable Building and Design Taking the LEED Tempe Goes for the Green on New Transportation Center By Scott Blair The city of Tempe's transportation department is looking beyond encouraging bus and bicycle commuting to find new sustainable solutions. In June 2006, the city began construction on a new 40,000-sq-ft transportation center that it hopes will be LEED gold certified upon completion in February. "The project started out as just a 5,000-sq-ft building to house a ticket store and restrooms for bus drivers," says Bonnie Richardson, AIA, LEED AP, the principal planner and an architect with Tempe's transportation division. "In looking and talking about it, we decided an urban plaza was needed to integrate everything within the downtown while also being the heart of our transportation system." The result was a three-story structure at the base of "A" Mountain that will house the transportation department, private offices for lease and retail shops. The site also contains a central bus plaza with 13 bays for neighborhood bus routes and the FLASH bus that serves Arizona State University and downtown Tempe. Phoenix-based general contractor Adolfson & Peterson Construction is building the masonry and steel-framed structure under a $24.5 million, construction manager-at-risk contract. The site will also abut a major station for the Valley Metro Light Rail system, which should be operational December 2008.. The project will feature the state's first bike station, which was developed in California and is essentially a secure, indoor valet parking for bicycles, Richardson says. The station will feature a double-decker storage system for bikes and a repair shop. Another way the city is encouraging alternative modes of transportation lies in what the project doesn't have. "There is no parking, which is pretty unique," says John Kane, AIA LEED AP, design principal with Tempe-based Architekton, who co-designed the project with Portland, Ore.-based Otak Inc. "It's a truly multimodal building, with everything but the car." There were some early snags at the site when, in accordance with state legislation for all new construction, archeologists investigated the site for ancient remains. "It seemed like everywhere they put a shovel in they found something," Richardson says. "What we started out thinking would be a six- to eight-week archeological investigation turned out over nine months. The city was committed to making sure we did it right." Significant finds included ancient structure walls, floors and hearths that are estimated to have been occupied from A.D. 500 to 1450. Contractors were able to minimize delays by working around the digs and focusing on a portion of the site that had already been excavated. The city's police department, located just to the west of the site, had a below-grade sally port used to transport prisoners in and out of the jail where the new building was going. Crews realigned the driveway and turned the sally port, which was below-grade to begin with, into a basement for the new structure. The project features a variety of sustainable building techniques. One of the most prominent is the first green roof using native plants to be attempted in the Sonoran Desert climate, according to Richardson. "The green roof will have lush desert planting because you want the dirt to be shaded as much as possible," says John Tomasson, project manager for Adolfson & Peterson. "Otherwise it would absorb the heat and hold it in." After extensive testing of various green-roof options with the help of Arizona State University, Phoenix-based landscape designer A Dye Design chose to plant drought-tolerant native species such as bear grass and Rocky Point ice plant. "The goal is that they will be self-sufficient without watering once they are mature," Richardson says. A 15,000-gal rainwater recovery system will provide water for drip irrigation and for power-washing public plaza areas. A separate grey-water system will recycle water from showers, sinks and drinking fountains to refill toilet basins. The building will utilize a high-efficiency central plant mechanical system that will have an under-floor duct system with individual controls. Coupled with the lack of interior partitions, the ducts provide future flexibility for reconfiguration of the office and leased spaces. "For the size of the building, our drywall quantities are extremely low because of all the open space," Tomasson says. The building's core area, including restrooms, elevators and stairwells, was purposely situated along the entire length of the west-facing exterior wall. "This helps create a buffer to the air-conditioned spaces and delays thermal transmission," Kane says. Designers utilized 'U'-shaped, self-shading masonry block units to reduce solar gain. Since the east face of the building will primarily be skinned in glass, heat gain there will be mitigated by a metal panel shade system suspended 10 ft away from the building. "Occupants can adjust the panels, creating this active façade so that the building will always look different," Kane says. Upon completion, the project will serve as a prominent educational tool to promote sustainable concepts. A monitoring system will provide the public with real-time data on the building's power and water usage. City planners hope this and two other LEED-registered projects currently under way will help foster private green development in Tempe. "We are hoping this sets the standard so that we develop policy in a positive way," Richardson says. Key Players Owner: City of Tempe Architects: OTAK; Architekton General Contractor: Adolfson & Peterson Construction LEED Consultant: Natural Logic Inc. Subcontractors: DP Electric; Midstate Mechanical; Pete King Construction Co.; Red River Contracting; Roma Masonry; W & W Architectural Metals; Sunwest Landscape _____