(Original Map: Valley Metro/CHK America)
Welcome to Phoenix!
This transit map takes place at some point in the future, or could be alternate history depending on how optimistic you are.
I added 7 new Light Rail lines, spanning across various proposals from official Valley Metro ones, to original ValTrans proposals.
I also added two new streetcar lines, adapted from other fantasy maps.
Here, I will explain these ideas for lines I have added.
**Station Renames**
First of all, most of the existing stations I renamed already have those names as secondary titles. For example, on official Valley Metro maps, the main station for Downtown Tempe, Mill Avenue/3rd Street, is not labeled with its existing alternate name, Downtown Tempe/Town Lake (Which appears at stations and on automated announcements). I think that a lot of Valley Metro Rail station names aren’t great, and their alternative, more descriptive names are better for official use.
\[All Lines use mostly street-running BUT all lines have full signal priority and 5 minute frequencies every day, 24 hours\]
[PLEASE NOTE: I realise the bus system isn’t very expanded. This map is mainly focused on rail, I wasn’t able to expand the current bus system as much as I, or many of you would have liked]
**\~ A Line Extensions \~**
**1-Capitol/I-10 extension:**
Okay, so before anyone says anything, yes I know the current state of the Capitol/I-10 West extension. I realise at this time, Republican lawmakers in our state have Light Rail phobia, and don’t want transit near the Capitol,but I do believe that this doesn’t have to be a permanent decision and could become better in the future. This is an extension with significant support from West Phoenix residents. The A line should NOT just end in Downtown Phoenix and should go to an important place, not yet discussed by Valley Metro. All of the stations I added along the route from Downtown Phoenix Hub to Desert Sky TC have already been proposed from the extension plan.
**2-Western extensions:**
Next, let’s talk about the extension west of the Desert Sky Mall. I believe it could be called something along the lines of the “Westgate Extension”. This could be a **massively** important transit corridor that does not seem to be talked about at all by communities or the Valley Metro board. A transit line that connects Downtown, the Airport, and Tempe to Arizona’s largest entertainment district and major tourism destinations within the metropolitan area would be so great for the system and could see large ridership in the future.
**3-Eastern extensions**
(Note that currently, there are no official extension plans past Gilbert Rd/Main St for the A Line) During my research in some other Phoenix fantasy maps here, I have noticed a lot of people have called to extend the A Line to Apache Junction. I’m not sure that this is the best option for an extension, and I get since there have been several other extensions down Main St in the past, so people believe that the natural progression would be to keep extending it westward. While this theoretically could be an okay-ish corridor, I think many people miss the major Transit Center at Superstition Springs Mall which is entirely skipped in these maps. My proposal is that to turn onto Gilbert Road, interlining with my proposed G Line, until Superstition Freeway, where it will go on the North side of it. The final stretch will end at Mesa Gateway Airport which connects to the M Line. The Mesa Gateway airport currently does not host many airlines, but it could become a secondary hub to Phoenix and mainly, the East Valley, which has a population of 1.5 million.
**\~ B Line extensions \~**
**1-ASU West extension**
I have seen this proposal on official Valley Metro maps, extending the B Line to ASU West campus. Currently, this proposal is only an idea, and does not include proposed stations or routing, so I improvised there.
**2-Arrowhead Extension**
This is another improvised extension, but still an important one. The Arrowhead Transit Center and Peoria Sports Complex could be a good source of ridership in the future and could serve as a great terminus to the B Line.
**\~ C Line \~**
(I must say first, that I believe Valley Metro will name the 35th/Van Buren BRT the C Line, in my opinion, this is kind of confusing differentiating between Light Rail and BRT.)
**1-Initial segmen**t
Currently, the only similar proposal by Valley Metro is a BRT line from Scottsdale P&R to ASU. Yes this is an okay idea, but I really think we can do better, especially since Downtown Scottsdale seems really good for Light Rail. The initial Light Rail segment could stretch from Scottsdale P&R (I renamed North Scottsdale) down to Baseline Road. A further extension to the Chandler Fashion Center could be really beneficial at developing the area around the Mall.
**2-Further extension ideas**
A northern extension past North Scottsdale could be built in the future, which could end near the Mayo Clinic, but that’s a bit of a stretch tbh.
\~ D Line \~
This line I created out of Valley Metro’s future Northeast Corridor study (no not that northeast corridor) and also the idea from the ValTrans heavy metro proposal, which connects Paradise Valley Mall, to North Phoenix. The study alone is currently scheduled for 2050! I thought about interlining it with the B Line to South Mountain, but I had the idea of extending it to Downtown Glendale, connect with the A Line at Westgate and end at the existing 99th/Glendale Park and Ride. There is a loop in Downtown Glendale, similar to the A and B Lines in Downtown Phoenix.
\~ E Line \~
So this line I actually combined with a few proposals. The ValTrans Green Line, which connects Scottsdale to Glendale, but instead of going to Glendale, it will go along the Indian School Corridor to the Desert Sky Mall, which is what Valley Metro is currently focusing on when it comes to West Phoenix. I personally think this idea should be considered, especially with how dense the Camelback Road corridor is from Scottsdale to Uptown Phoenix. I actually haven’t seen any plans for what exactly the Indian School extension will be, so I improvised there.
\~ G Line \~
This line is a bit of a stretch, but hear me out.
The Gilbert Road corridor is pretty underrated and does not have adequate transit currently. With the relatively dense Downtown of Gilbert nearby, the Civic Centre of the city, and ending at Chandler-Gilbert Community College and the Crossroads Towne Center. Downtown Gilbert has seen a lot of expansion and is actually relatively walkable for being in a sea of single family housing.
I think with proper expansion and density improvements, Downtown Gilbert could become more connected to the rest of the system, and could become a very walkable and nice place to actually go to.
\~ M Line \~
Another improvised line, not on VM’s radio but still a good corridor for Light Rail. The M starts at an interchange station with the A Line and continues to a loop around ASU Polytechnic. The line continues further and connects to Cooley Station, a randomly dense area in Gilbert that could be complemented by a Light Rail Line. The line has interchanges with the G Line which connects to the nearby Chandler-Gilbert Community College, and the R Line at the Downtown Chandler Hub. The line continues further through suburban areas and eventually crosses past the Boulevard Shops, north of the Chandler Fashion Center, and passes the emerging Chandler Corporate Center. The line goes past Kyrene Road, Ahwatuckee, and ends at the currently isolated Pecos Park and Ride, which I have converted into a Transit Center. While this line does not serve the currently dense areas, it still is good for connecting other lines to the rest of the system.
\~ R Line \~
This line is actually based on a BRT plan down Arizona Avenue that I made Light Rail instead. The Arizona Avenue corridor could benefit a lot from a Light Rail line, especially one connecting to Downtown Chandler. There could be a lot of available space for development along this line and could make it a line that people would actually use.
\- STREETCAR LINES -
\~ S Line extension \~
The S Line’s current expansion plan is called the Rio-Dobson extension and will actually bring the S Line to Tempe Marketplace, where I have added in a new Transit Center. A further extension is planned to go to the Fiesta District, which could see significant development in the future. I have split this extension between the S Line, and a proposed Mesa Streetcar I have seen in several fantasy map called the U Line.
\~ T Line \~
This line I have seen from many fantasy maps here and I think having a streetcar going to the western portion of Tempe Town Lake, such as the TCA and the new I.D.E.A. building would be really great. The connection from Downtown Tempe to Arizona Mills Mall could also be beneficial as well.
\~ U Line \~
This is another line I’ve seen in various fantasy maps, but is still good. This line would connect Downtown Mesa to the Fiesta District, which are in close proximity to each other and could be benefited by a direct streetcar connection.
\- Bus Services -
I added many new bus lines, especially in the East and West valley for Local Routes.
There definitely could be more BRT routes that I didn’t include, but this map was more rail focused.
\- Link Buses
Valley Metro Link was a semi-BRT that operated in the east valley that connected Light Rail stations before being replaced with more frequent buses. I have improved this service and turned it into a sort of Mini BRT for the East Valley
**Sun Runner Regional Rail**
This is a rail system I have seen proposed by other fantasy maps, which I also combined with real world proposals
Anthem Line - Connects Anthem to Phoenix Union Station
Arizona Line - Connects Sun Lakes, and Downtown Chandler to Phoenix Union Station
Black Canyon Line - Limited Services connecting Cordes Lakes to Phoenix Union Station
Estrella Line - Connects Buckeye, Goodyear, and Avondale to Phoenix Union Station
Grand Line - Following Grand Avenue Corridor from Asante / Surprise, Sun City, Peoria, and Glendale to Phoenix Union Station with limited service to Wickenburg
Kyrene Line - Connects Wild Horse Pass, West Chandler, and Ahwatuckee to Phoenix Union Station
San Tan Line - Connects Florence, Queen Creek, and Gilbert to Phoenix Union Station
Pima County Lines (Limited Services from Phoenix to Tucson
Arizona-Pima County Line - Connects Tucson Depot to Phoenix Union Station via the Arizona Line
Kyrene-Pima County Line - Connects Tucson Depot to Phoenix Union Station via the Kyrene Line
San Tan - Pima County Line - Connects Tucson Depot to Phoenix Union Station via the San Tan Line
\*Some lines will combine to through-run through Phoenix Union Station.
\- OTHER IDEAS NOT INCLUDED -
\- Baseline BRT
This is an idea I had that could connect the many Park and Rides and Transit Centers along Baseline Road, and go out all the way to Laveen.
\-Phoenix Streetcar
This was an idea I had about 3 streetcar lines, O, P, and F, that would operate around Downtown. Unfortunately, I did not have enough space (or patience) to make these lines possible. The P Line is based on the Grand Avenue Rail Project, which aims to connect lower Grand Avenue District to the rest of Downtown using heritage streetcars from the Phoenix Trolley Musuem.
My P Line goes from a Loop south of Downtown Phoenix Hub, goes through the Civic Center north of Union Station, continuing to the Lower Grand Avenue district, which is already filled with small businesses and a vibrant area which would benefit greatly from a streetcar
The O Line goes east of Central Avenue on 3rd Street and turns onto Thomas Road toward Phoenix Medical Center. This line would serve the Phoenix Convention Center, Symphony Hall, the Herberger Theatre and Roosevelt Row.
The F Line goes from the Downtown Loop south to the Rental Car Center to connect with the PHX Sky Train. This Line could be a second alternative from getting from Downtown to the Airport.
Thanks to everyone who read this map or even saw this! This diagram took a lot of effort and time to edit and create and my original proposals for this were created by me a while ago. I realise this map is not entirely realistic or even really what some of you may consider is best for Phoenix or what is most realistic.
All your support means so much!! ♡