My dream Phoenix area light rail and streetcar system

When the Valley Metro Light Rail first began, many expected that it would be a failure. Instead, ridership actually exceeded Valley Metro's expectations, and expansion of the system is planned in the future.

However, I personally think in the far future, there should be a complete light rail and streetcar system for the whole Phoenix area. To differentiate each line, they would be given color designations. I have shared this idea on other forums, but I think sharing it at a rail forum is more appropriate. Here is my dream system:

• Red Line - Existing route plus planned extensions, as well as an extension further east to Power Road and south on Power Road to Superstition Springs Center. Serves Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa.
• Blue Line - Existing route (including Downtown Mesa extension) plus planned Capitol branch, with an extension further west to Westgate. Serves Glendale, Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa.
• Green Line - The planned Tempe Streetcar.
• Silver Line - From Baseline and Central Avenue, up Central Avenue to Indian School Road, east on Indian School Road, north on SR 51, east on Shea Boulevard, and north on Tatum to Paradise Valley Mall. Serves Phoenix including the affluent northeastern part of the city.
• Orange Line - From Arrowhead Towne Center, east on Bell Road, south of 59th Avenue, east on Glendale Avenue, south on Central Avenue, east on Loop 202, south to Sky Harbor Airport, east on Broadway, south on McClintock Drive, and east on Chandler Boulevard to Chandler Fashion Center. Serves Glendale (including Downtown Glendale), Peoria, Phoenix, Tempe, and Chandler.
• Pink Line - From 48th Street and Chandler Boulevard, east on Chandler Boulevard/Williams Field Road to Power Road, and north on Power Road to Superstition Springs Center. Serves Phoenix (Ahwatukee), Chandler (including Downtown Chandler), Gilbert, and Mesa.
• Brown Line - From Scottsdale Road and Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard, south on Scottsdale Road/Rural Road to Chandler Boulevard, and east on Chandler Boulevard to Chandler Fashion Center. Serves Scottsdale, Tempe, and Chandler.
• Purple Line - From Baseline and 75th Avenue, east on Baseline to Power Road, and north on Power Road to Superstition Springs Center. Serves Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, and Gilbert.
• Gold Line - From Downtown Phoenix, east via existing alignment, south on Dobson Road, east on Southern Avenue, and south on Gilbert Road to Queen Creek Road. Serves Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert (including Downtown Gilbert), and Chandler.

What does anyone here think about my dream light rail and streetcar system?

Looks nice, but I could use a map of it. I'm also not very familiar with Phoenix -- what are the main business districts and the like?

Either use a draw or paint program on a map image, or else a mapping service like Google Maps. You can draw your own maps in Google Maps with Google's "My Maps" service.

lpetrich wrote:Looks nice, but I could use a map of it. I'm also not very familiar with Phoenix -- what are the main business districts and the like?

Either use a draw or paint program on a map image, or else a mapping service like Google Maps. You can draw your own maps in Google Maps with Google's "My Maps" service.

Someone from another forum managed to draw these for me, although there are some inaccuracies. The first one is that the north-south segment on the west end of the Pink Line shouldn't be there. Also, the Green Line (Tempe Streetcar) is missing the segment to the Tempe Public Library. Finally, the Blue Line is supposed to overlap with the Red Line between Downtown Phoenix and Downtown Mesa. Here are the images:

System-wide:
http://i.imgur.com/RGNJbmx.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Southeast Valley zoomed in:
http://i.imgur.com/kkgERQc.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Northwest Valley zoomed in:
http://i.imgur.com/6iJiP2g.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As stated, ignore that north-south segment of the Pink Line on the west end of the route.

Thanx for the maps.

It's a bit hard to tell where the city ends and the countryside begins, however. For a more abstract sort of map, one that makes it easier to tell what's what, you or your friend could try OpenStreetMap, an open-source, crowdsourced alternative to similar sorts of maps from commercial map sites like Google, Bing, and MapQuest.

The contrast of such a map may be too intense -- it may compete too much with the lines that you are trying to draw. There is a solution -- reduce its contrast with an image editor. A way to do that with a vector-graphics editor is to put a semitransparent rectangle on top of it. Since it's vector graphics, you can adjust the contrast by editing the opacity of that rectangle.

lpetrich wrote:Thanx for the maps.

It's a bit hard to tell where the city ends and the countryside begins, however. For a more abstract sort of map, one that makes it easier to tell what's what, you or your friend could try OpenStreetMap, an open-source, crowdsourced alternative to similar sorts of maps from commercial map sites like Google, Bing, and MapQuest.

The contrast of such a map may be too intense -- it may compete too much with the lines that you are trying to draw. There is a solution -- reduce its contrast with an image editor. A way to do that with a vector-graphics editor is to put a semitransparent rectangle on top of it. Since it's vector graphics, you can adjust the contrast by editing the opacity of that rectangle.

Well, of all the lines, the Pink Line is probably the most rural, but the area it would serve is among the fastest growing areas in the entire Phoenix area. In addition, the Pink Line would also be popular with mall shoppers, since it would connect Chandler Fashion Center, SanTan Village, and Superstition Springs Center.

Also, I forgot to mention, but for operational efficiency, Orange Line trains that arrive at Chandler Fashion Center depart as Brown Line trains and vice-versa. Similarly, Pink Line trains that arrive at Superstition Springs Center depart as Purple Line trains and vice-versa.

Sorry to bump an old thread, but one thing that I have been thinking about my light rail system is what yards to base each line. I don't think basing all lines in a single yard is a good idea. So, I think there should be two rail yards, with the following line assignments:

• The existing yard in Phoenix would be expanded for more cars. Lines based in Phoenix would include the Red, Blue, Silver, and Gold Lines.
• Tempe plans on building its own yard for the Tempe Streetcar (Green Line in my system). In my system the Tempe yard would be expanded for light rail. Lines based in Tempe would include the Green, Orange, Pink, Brown, and Purple Lines. While it may make more geographic sense to base the Orange Line in Phoenix, the Orange Line interlines with the Brown Line at Chandler Fashion Center and thus uses the same cars for both lines, thus basing it in Tempe along with the Brown Line would keep a more even distribution of lines between the two yards, otherwise having them based in separate yards would not allow the interlining of those two lines, reducing operational efficiency.

Any changes anyone would make to these yard assignments? Should there be additional yards besides Phoenix and Tempe?