On Track
By K. Robert Wendel

Construction on the Valley's $1.6 billion light-rail system is under way and on track.

Valley Metro Light Rail officials and mayors from Tempe, Mesa, Phoenix and Glendale officially broke ground on the initial 20-mi. project in February.

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The Valley Metro Light Rail System begins at 19th Avenue and Bethany Home Road in northern Phoenix with the first of 27 passenger stations. The light- rail line jogs to the west at Camelback Road and 19th Avenue, moving along Camelback before taking a turn to the south on Central Avenue.

The line heads west again at Washington Street and follows that alignment to the Mill Avenue area, where a bridge will carry the rail cars over Tempe Town Lake. The line then heads south on Mill Avenue, jogging west on Terrace Avenue and then straightens out on Apache Boulevard, continuing to the final stop on Sycamore Street and Apache Boulevard/Main Street in Mesa.

Backers said the project would employ 50,000 people between design, construction and operation and would help downtown redevelopment and development efforts in the four cities. "Every city struggles with an urban core, but light rail has been a factor that has transformed cities where it is built," said Valley Metro CEO Richard Simonetta. "In some of the Western cities, you find development that could have occurred anywhere occurs on the rail line.

Rail helps organize development in a corridor that can sustain density."

The project is funded through a combination of bonds issued by Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe, federal funds and sales tax revenue. Some cities are using bonds for short term financing. More than 60 engineering and architecture firms are involved, and once the project is moving along, 250 to 300 subcontractors will be involved. Some of the contracts require a two-step proposal while others are hard bid.

The massive project is being bid in five line packages, with sections ranging from 2.27 mi. to 5.39 mi. in length. Each section is scheduled to take two years to construct. Final build-out is 2008 on the initial part of the system.

Tempe's Sundt Construction teamed with Stacey & Witbeck in a joint venture and picked up the first section of rail work, a $53.6 million, 5.3-mi. leg running from 24th Street and Washington in Phoenix to Tempe Town Lake.

The engineer on this section, which is section 4, is the Phoenix office Jacobs-Sverdrup, and the station architect is the Phoenix office of TransSystems.

No contractors have been selected as of press time for the other four line sections.

Engineers include: the Phoenix-based AZTECH Engineering on section 1; David Evans and Associates of Phoenix on section 2; the Phoenix office of Stantec Consulting Inc. on Section 3, and the Phoenix office of HDR Inc. on section 5.

Stantec is the lead engineer.

The station architects include: ART Architects of Phoenix on section 1;

Phoenix-based Huitt Zollars Inc. on section 2; DWL Architects and Planners of Phoenix on section 3; a joint venture between Tempe-based Architekton and the Phoenix office of OTAK on section 5.

Architekton/OTAK are the lead station architects.

The actual railway consists of two steel tracks embedded in concrete. Original plans called for an application of gravel. However, public concerns led designers to choose concrete, except in Mesa, where ballast is used.

The system operates on two parallel tracks with the rails protected by a curb.

The rails are standard gauge and the top of the rail is flush with the pavement.

"We have strict vertical and horizontal tolerances set by the Americans with Disabilities Act, so essentially what you have is an embedded track with concrete poured around it so all you see is the top of the rail," said Valley Metro operations manager Joe Marie. "The rail is surrounded by a rubber boot that acts as an insulator to provide better ride quality and reduce vibration.

Shop Facility Under Construction

Sundt Construction and Stacy and Witbeck also started work on the $57.6 million light- rail maintenance yard in the fall. The project features a 138,200-sq.-ft. maintenance equipment building and a 13,600-sq.-ft. maintenance of way building that supports the rails.

FNF Construction of Tempe completed a $2.1 million bridge job that becomes the entrance for the new maintenance and storage facility.

The initial phase provides storage and facilities for 40 rail cars, with eventual plans calling for another phase to support 100 rail cars. The light- rail system has purchased 36 vehicles from Japanese manufacturer Kinkisharyo-Mitsui for $3.5 million each. Valley Metro has options for another 70 cars.

The rail cars can carry between 175 and 200 people, with each car featuring two, 13,000- ton air- conditioning units that will keep the temperature at 70 to 72 degrees, even on the hottest days.

The rail cars are connected to an overhead copper power line hanging on 18-ft. poles. The power line features an automatic tensioning system to compensate for the expansion and contraction of the power wire because of heat. Fourteen substations along the route will convert the regular electric load to 750 volts to power the train cars.

Boston-based Mass Electric Construction Co. won the $56 million contract for the traction electrification system.

The cars weigh 50 tons each, with initial plans to run two-car configurations. Valley Metro officials said the cars would run 10 to 15 minutes during peak load times and 20 to 30 minutes during off-peak times. Designers are also planning for a three-minute schedule.

The cars can hit speeds up to 55 mph, although 25 mph is an average speed.

"These trains are very quiet," said Robert Ball, a project manager for Valley Metro. "They are so quiet, that almost becomes a problem in itself."
Motorists and pedestrians may not see or hear the light rail cars.

Valley Metro officials estimated the system would see 26,000 boarding's a day, with that number nearly doubling to 50,000 by 2020. The system may be extended to north Phoenix and into Glendale.

The light- rail project is using a "predictive priority" system at intersections to prevent traffic back-ups and congestion.

"The predictive priority system is an interface between the train and the traffic and will add time to the red light or decrease time to the green light," said Valley Metro project engineer Bill Gustafson. "If the system goes wrong, the train can stop, but you can steal 10 seconds from a traffic light cycle and no one will notice.

A Bridge Over Tempe Waters

At Tempe Town Lake, the Tempe office of PCL Civil Constructors Inc. won the $21 million contract to build a bridge spanning the lake, near the historic Union Pacific Railroad Bridge. That project was awarded in February.

Plans call for a 1,500-ft. span sitting on cast-in-place piers topped off with structural steel "V" trusses and a concrete roadway. Crews will sink 8-ft.- diameter steel tubes that rest on bedrock below the lake's bottom. Water will be pumped from the tubes, and then contractors will tie into the bedrock and cast the piers.

The bridge project features an interesting electronic art system utilizing L.E.D. lights that can be programmed in a variety of ways.

"We have an artist developing some programs to portray an artistic interpretation of the bridge," Gustafson said. "One of the programs has the L.E.D. lights chasing the train across the bridge and others are being developed."

All Aboard

The stations also showcase architectural features. Each station is essentially the same type of construction, although every station reflects on the character of its neighborhood. Designers were given a "kit of parts" including steel, a tensile waterproof fabric and horizontal and vertical shading.

In general the stations are 280- ft. long by 16 -ft. wide. Some of the stations are in the middle of the street while others are on the side of the street.

Platforms typically contain ticket vending machines, information on arrivals and departures, benches, shelters, lighting and other amenities.

There is also an art budget for the stations and centers. Each station has an estimated construction budget of $1 million to $2 million. One overall contract will be let for a general contractor for all of the stations.

The stations were designed with the Valley's climate in mind and feature an extensive amount of shading. Designers teamed with Arizona State University and did extensive research into materials that could stand the test of time under the desert sun. Designers settled on a polycarbonate coated and woven fiber fabric that doesn't gain a heat load.

"The architects are given a kit of parts that are the same, but just like an erector set, they can be put together in unique ways," said Steve Gottesmann, Valley Metro's manager of architecture and urban design. "We have to keep these stations maintainable and we also wanted to be consistent for budgetary reasons, but this still allows architects to come up with some unique designs and still be affordable."