June City of Tempe Multimodal Meeting Report

Much of the meeting this month was spent attempting to reorganize the committee so that committee rules, membership, and process for reporting to the City of Tempe Transportation Commission are clarified. Some progress was made in defining the committee’s mission and certain operating rules. TBAG, among other groups, has a “seat” on the committee and we’ll try and make sure this remains the case after membership is defined. This discussion will be continued next month.

We heard reports about bikes on Light Rail (LRT), which seems to be going ok. Apparently, there is updated language regarding how to use LRT with bikes. For more info, see:
www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail/how_to_ride/light_rail_and_bicycles/

We heard an update on the South Tempe Corridor Study. Some options, such as LRT on Mill and Rural were eliminated because of technical constraints. The most promising options which still stand are bus rapid transit (buses in exclusive lanes which act like LRT) on Rural and/or Mill, a “modern streetcar” (lighter-weight LRT) on Mill, and LRT on Rural but in a shared lane with traffic. Obviously, my description here leaves a lot to the imagination. Please check out www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail/future_extensions/tempe/ for more accurate information and to make comments online. More community meetings will take place as more analysis is being performed.

We heard an update on the Broadway Road Streetscape improvement project. Several lane/landscaping configuration options exist, and they will be subject to more discussion and analysis in the coming months. To see options and make comments online, go to: http://www.tempe.gov/TIM/Traffic/broadwayroad.htm

As always, please send TBAG anything you want us to bring up at the committee meeting.