PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 A plan to expand light rail to the state Capitol area and Phoenix\u2019s west side is in doubt after the Phoenix City Council\u2019s transportation subcommittee decided not to endorse the proposed plan.<\/p>\n
The subcommittee voted Wednesday against moving forward with the Capitol Extension plan, leaving supporters disappointed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really leaving a lot of people behind, which typically happens with West Phoenix and Maryvale,\u201d said Nicole Rodriguez with the nonprofit Urban Phoenix Project<\/a>. <\/p>\n The \u201cCAPEX<\/a>\u201d plan would have brought the light rail to those areas via the I-10. <\/p>\n At Wednesday\u2019s meeting<\/a>, Valley Metro CEO Jessica Mefford-Miller said the agency is more than 60% through the design process on this project that has been years in the making. With construction costs rising after COVID-19, the light rail extension around the capitol would cost about $624 million to build. <\/p>\n The transportation subcommittee had two options to consider.<\/p>\n Option 1 called for adopting the CAPEX route and applying for grant money from the Federal Transit Administration before an April 2026 deadline.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that you must vote for option 1 to proceed with the light rail because voters have already approved it four times,\u201d one resident said during public comment.<\/p>\n Option 2 called for re-evaluating high-capacity transit options with or without the Capitol Extension.<\/p>\n Three subcommittee members voted to present Option 2 to the full city council at the end of next month: Debra Stark, Jim Waring and Kevin Robinson. Subcommittee member Kesha Hodge Washington abstained.<\/p>\n Before the vote, Chairwoman Stark said she was torn.<\/p>\n \u201cI want us to serve a part of our city that\u2019s not being served,\u201d Stark said. But she also cited opposition from state lawmakers as a concern.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have heard from the Senate president and the speaker of the House at the state Legislature, and they both oppose anything within the Capitol Mall area,\u201d Stark said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are definitely Republican legislators in the majority who oppose light rail, and they\u2019ll kill it if they can,\u201d Waring added.<\/p>\n During the meeting, Stark said the Arizona Diamondbacks expressed concern over a light-rail expansion on Jefferson Street. She suggested that Option 2 may be more reliable for getting light rail into the city\u2019s west side.<\/p>\n Rodriguez said she was shocked by the subcommittee\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n \u201cTo step away from federal dollars just seems asinine, for lack of a better word,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n Valley Metro provided this statement:<\/p>\n Public feedback is a critical component in the report Valley Metro will provide to Phoenix City Council to inform their decision. Valley Metro will continue community outreach efforts for the Capitol Extension and I-10 West Extension projects in coordination with the City of Phoenix. Public comment will remain open through the January 27 Phoenix City Council meeting. Community engagement will continue through virtual and in-person public meetings, including sessions on January 8 and 15, as well as pop-up events. We encourage the public to share feedback and access project information, presentations and community feedback forms at valleymetro.org\/CAPEX.<\/a> We look forward to the Phoenix City Council meeting and decision on January 27.<\/p>\n The City of Phoenix also weighed in, releasing this statement: <\/p>\n \u201cPhoenix City Council will be presented with two options at the January 27, 2026, policy meeting to either select a locally preferred alternative (LPA) for CAPEX or re-evaluate alternatives for high capacity transit serving west Phoenix. The City of Phoenix and Valley Metro will continue its public outreach efforts and prepare to present updated stakeholder input and project information to Phoenix City Council members in January 2026. We want to ensure they have the necessary details to evaluate the options being presented.\u201d <\/p>\n See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it<\/a>.<\/p>\n