Drivers have spent three years navigating the 20-mile obstacle course where crews have been building the Phoenix area’s light-rail system, and Metro officials are trying to reassure them that the end is in sight.
There have been troubles with construction, utilities and unexplained breaks in the tracks on the $1.4 billion project. But Metro officials say by August, workers will finish laying the entire track, and that in the fall, trains will begin making test runs through central Phoenix.
And on Dec. 27, if all goes as planned, the line will open to the public with a celebration and a weekend of free rides.
“What will happen in these next 12 months will seem to have so much more momentum than what happened in the last 12 months or even the last 24 months,” Metro CEO Rick Simonetta said.
But there are still hurdles to making it happen.
Metro recently discovered a series of mysterious breaks in the rail line already installed from central Phoenix to the end of the line in Mesa.
Because it was unable to determine the cause of the 15 complete and partial breaks, Metro hired an outside firm to recommend how to fix them.
Simonetta said whatever the cause, the line will still open at the end of this year.
In the meantime, drivers can expect to see driving conditions gradually improve. Contractors finished installing the line’s longest segment last month. It runs from central Phoenix to Tempe.
Once the track is installed along the entire line, new sets of contractors will arrive to install the track’s electrical system, its signal and communication network, the train stations, and station artwork.
The end of major construction along each of the line’s five segments will mean good news for drivers, said Marty McNeil, spokeswoman for Metro light rail.
“By that time, the paving is done and your drive is good,” McNeil said. “We won’t be in your hair.” ?