Tempe City Council received the latest update on the Tempe Streetcar extension to Mesa at its Dec. 12 work study session, with staff presenting information on what’s currently happening with the Streetcar and the proposed extension.
According to a city staff report, the city has considered options to expand the Streetcar system through various studies, like the Tempe/Mesa Streetcar Feasibility Study that was presented in May 2020, which identified potential corridors for expansion.
The proposed Rio East-Dobson Extension project resulted from the city’s collaboration with the city of Mesa and Valley Metro to extend the Streetcar into Mesa.
REDE proposes the extension of Streetcar services from its current end-of-line at Rio Salado Parkway/Marina Heights east to the Tempe and Mesa border at Evergreen Street, continuing east into Mesa and south on Dobson Road. This connects to the Valley Metro Light Rail at Main Street, according to the report.
City staff — transportation and sustainability director Eric Iwerson and transit manager Sam Stevenson — spoke to council at the Dec. 12 meeting about the efforts to advance future Streetcar extension projects.
“This is part of the process that we work through of our federal funding and federal processes for rail projects of this magnitude,” Iwerson said.
He and Stevenson went over the Streetcar’s current status and how it’s performing, also seeking council agreement on an action that staff need in moving forward with the REDE project for the Streetcar.
Notably, the latter shared that the Streetcar will start charging a $1 fare per trip next year, after operating for free since launching. There are also plans to improve operation times by bringing the frequency of cars to every 15 minutes instead of every 20 minutes.
Currently, the city is spending around $7.5 million to operate the service, the majority of that funding comes from our local Tempe transit sales tax, according to Stevenson.
Stevenson, discussing the REDE, said that staff is at the phase of the project called the locally preferred alternative, a formal step in the process that would qualify Tempe to apply for and potentially receive additional federal funding to advance the project through design and engineering.
“We will be back to you at a later time to discuss some of the finer details as we learn more about where Streetcar could potentially operate within the streets, where the stop locations are and things like that,” Stevenson said.
For the locally preferred alternative, Iwerson explained that staff needs council’s concurrence to move forward with the technology of the Streetcar moving east on Rio Salado Parkway into Mesa.
He highlighted that the city of Mesa and Tempe’s transportation commission have already expressed their support for advancing the locally preferred alternative.
Iwerson explained that as they look forward to funding the REDE, they have received federal funding earlier this year for preliminary engineering and environmental analysis.
“That’s a good sign. We got that money from the federal government, and then we’ll keep working with MAG and our partners on the funding of Prop 479 that just passed in November, on what that means for funding for this project in the future,” Iwerson said.
City council will vote at its Dec. 19 meeting on whether to approve this action, moving the REDE project along. There will be a series of meetings through Valley Metro if approved to move the project forward.
Reporter Caroline Yu can be reached at cyu@iniusa.org. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Caroline Caroline Yu joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2020 as a summer intern covering Scottsdale. As an intern, she continued her coverage of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Tempe. After graduating in 2022, Caroline became a full-time reporter for Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. She is currently reporting for the Tempe market.
Community: She is a supporter of the environment and tries to get involved with related community events.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications, with a minor in French.
Random Fact: She used to be a ballet dancer for 10 years.
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