By Kalle Benallie | East Valley Tribune
Business people and residents were excited and concerned Sept. 13 at a public meeting updating the community about the construction of the Tempe streetcar this fall.
About 30 attended the meeting at the Tempe Transportation Center, many of them studying the planned artwork at the stops and asking questions about the three-year schedule.
The city of Tempe and Valley Metro began plans for the Tempe streetcar in late 2016. The estimated $186 million cost will be paid for with money from the Federal Transit Administration and local transit funds.
Construction, which began over the summer, will last three years and the streetcar will roll out in the fall of 2020, according to Valley Metro and the city of Tempe. The trackway will be three miles long, connecting Rio Salado Parkway to Dorsey Lane with 14 stops in a loop around downtown Tempe. Businesses, neighborhoods and event centers are the main focus of the streetcar’s destinations.
