AZBigMedia
“Phoenix will be a great city when it’s finished,” said a visitor in the 1950s.
An Arizona State University engineering professor is trying to promote a method of speeding up the Valley’s endless construction projects that can reduce years to months and months to weeks. Transportation experts say the economic, safety and transit benefits could be huge.
Earlier this year, residents and businesses in south Phoenix fought against extension of the Valley’s light rail system into their neighborhood. Besides opposition to Central Avenue being cut down to two lanes from four, their other objection to the project was the four-year construction timeline.
Construction takes time. And the bigger the project, the longer the timeline. The Big Dig in Boston — burying a freeway through the heart of the city — took 15 years. Traffic, the flow of goods and services, business conducted adjacent to work sites — it all gets disrupted.
