Final Report - Pima Association of Governments

High Capacity Transit System Plan - Final Report June 2009
Refined Corridor Assessment
Impact on Pedestrians and Bicyclists
There are existing bicycle lanes and sidewalks on all routes, with the exception of a portion of 6th
Avenue South (Corridor 13). There will be costs associated with preserving these bicycle and
pedestrian facilities with HCT implementation, as well as potential operational impacts on bicycle
lanes due to placement of streetcar and LRT tracks. These are issues to be resolved during design.
Infrastructure Needs
As noted previously, the costs of much of the infrastructure needed to support the HCT modes
was included in the capital cost estimates. Additional infrastructure includes the cost of
implementing park‐and‐ride lots (which may be part of existing developments or brand‐new
facilities) and potential new or reconstructed overpasses and underpasses. Potential new and
reconstructed overpasses are associated with the Corridors 4 and 12, as Section 5.4.1 details.
At this time, it appears that Alternative 7 (CRT in the I‐10 and I‐19 corridors) is likely to have
significant infrastructure costs outside of running way, stations, and vehicles. This is because CRT
trains are long (which affects rail car storage facilities and platform lengths), CRT park‐and‐ride
lots are typically large, a more direct connection between the I‐10 and I‐19 corridors may be
needed, and there may be a need for grade separations or new tracks to make CRT more
accessible at some proposed station locations (e.g., a direct connection to the TIA).
Park‐and‐ride lots are necessary to support the other alternatives. Some corridors serve existing
park‐and‐ride lots and transit centers. New park‐and‐ride lots may be provided as part of existing
or new developments (such as malls and churches) or may be constructed on newly acquired
ROW.
The project team notes that the existing park‐and‐ride lot near Speedway Boulevard/Tucson
Boulevard is not likely to be used by HCT riders unless the Tucson Modern Streetcar is connected
to this location. This park‐and‐ride lot is simply too close to the western terminus of Corridor 2A
to be attractive to potential HCT riders. If alternatives for Corridor 2A are carried forward, this
issue will be evaluated in more detail.
Image
For the purposes of this criterion, LRT and streetcar modes were considered to have the best
image of the HCT modes under consideration. BRT operating in a dedicated lane was considered
to have a better image than buses operating in mixed‐traffic; this is borne out in studies showing
that BRT can have ridership and land development impacts comparable to those of LRT when the
infrastructure and service characteristics are similar.
5.4.4 Corridor Assessment Summary
Table 26 summarizes the screening evaluation. As noted in the table, weights of 1 to 10 are
assigned to the evaluation criteria for the purpose of giving more importance to the primary and
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