Consultants Play Key Role in Transit Boom

This article describes how Arizona’s Valley Metro Rail (VMR), which is building a 20-mile light rail system serving Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe, is coordinating the use of 64 consultants on the $1.3 billion project that is slated to open in December of 2008. Focus of the article is on the role that consultants are playing in this project, with Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) as the primary consultant. PB divided the system into five four-mile line sections: each section will be designed by different consultants. The VMR project is considered to be the largest at-grade, in-street light rail system in the U.S. In addition, the line passes through 148 traffic signals, which required developing a priority system that did not unduly delay traffic but provided safe passage for the train. The article also describes how the light rail project will connect to Sky Harbor International Airport through an automated people mover (APM).