By Jakob Thorington | Arizona Capitol Times
Key Points:
- Phoenix city leaders face legislative opposition to new light rail project
- The project’s fate could be decided by federal funding that hasn’t yet been approved
- The project aims to extend light rail service to the Capitol and Interstate 10
A plan by the city of Phoenix to bring light rail to the Capitol and Interstate 10, which has been in the works for about a decade, could be halted by opposition from Republican lawmakers.
Phoenix city leaders are considering different options to extend the city’s light rail service to the Capitol in an effort to build light rail tracks over the interstate to Maryvale and the West Valley, but that plan may not include the Capitol extension route the city has proposed after the Phoenix Transportation, Infrastructure and Planning Subcommittee recommended exploring alternative methods of bringing high-capacity transit to west Phoenix with or without a Capitol light rail route.
Republicans at the Legislature have opposed any light rail projects near the Capitol. They included a provision in the Maricopa County transportation sales tax ballot referral — Prop. 479 — which banned any light rail expansion within 50 yards of the Capitol when the city was planning a light rail route on Jefferson Street.
“It’s no secret that there’s an entire contingent at the Capitol that doesn’t support our light rail efforts,” Phoenix City Deputy Manager Frank McCune said during the city’s Dec. 17 Transportation Subcommittee meeting. “It’s why they carved out the (Capitol) mall in the enabling legislation that allowed us to do Prop. 479.”
