Valley Metro Light Rail

Valley Metro Light Rail is getting closer and closer to running! Honestly, I think this is one of the coolest things this town has done. Anyway, it looks like the first day of regular service will be December 29, 2008. That's a Monday; the two days before that they will be running free service to allow people to check it out.

Anyway, they've been testing the trains in the downtown area, where I work. The 1st Ave line runs right past my building, and I can hear the whistle every time it goes by. This view is of one of the trains as it passed my building, between Van Buren and Monroe.

The cars look very nice, big and roomy. And, aside from the whistle, they are VERY quiet. From what I've read, they expect the entire run to be about an hour, so I'm thinking it will be about 30 minutes for me to get from the last station in Mesa (where I live) to Central Station (up the street from where I work). That will be MUCH nicer than driving in, I suspect. It might be hard to see from the picture, but the train is separated from the traffic lanes most of the time, only sharing the road at intersections.

Interestingly, in front of my building, the train runs on the east (far) side of the street, but at the intersection at Monroe, it crosses diagonally to the west side of 1st Ave as it crosses Monroe. Looks kinda hairy to me; but it seems to have control of the traffic lights, and basically makes everything red before it goes through, so hopefully that will be fine.