Tempe Streetcar Project Nearly Complete

TEMPE, AZ — A new form of transportation coming to Tempe is moving right along, despite the difficulties of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Tempe Streetcar, a $102 million project that began construction in 2017, is nearly complete and is expected to be operational by the middle of 2021, according to a news release. The Streetcar will carry 125 passengers around the city around Arizona State University's campus and around downtown. The Tempe Streetcar will intersect with the light rail, which already has a large presence in the area.

Amanda Nelson, public information officer for the City of Tempe Transportation department, said that the decrease of traffic in Tempe due to the pandemic has cleared the way for construction to continue smoothly.

“In Tempe, the downtown area is especially tight, so with the Streetcar construction we’ve had to be very strategic about when and how we restrict any traffic and how that construction plays out,” Nelson said in a statement. “One of the silver linings, if there are any of the pandemic, was that we were able to move more quickly in those areas that normally have high traffic volumes where we’re a little more restricted.”

Brian Dagsland, project manager for Stacy and Witbeck, who is managing construction on the battery-powered trains, said in the news release that crews were kept small and face masks were required in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and keep workers safe.

Testing for the project, a partnership between the city, ASU and the businesses along its route, will begin early next year, as planned.

While construction on the project has been challenging at times for nearby businesses, Nelson said, “the business community has been very supportive of the Streetcar as an amenity and as a way to bring more customers to their doors.”

Nelson said each of the 14 Streetcar stops will show off public art created by local artists and history panels with a photo and information about Tempe’s history.

Once operational, the Tempe Streetcar is set to ease traffic in an increasingly congested downtown.

“The Streetcar will provide a new option for people to move around in the Downtown area and around ASU where there are higher volumes of traffic. It will allow students, employees and people who are visiting downtown for lunch or shopping, to not necessarily have to drive a car,” Nelson said. “It will connect with the Metro light rail as well, so people can take their bikes on the Streetcar, so it allows people to be more multi-modal and to not have to have a car to move around in that higher traffic area.”