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The Source for Public Transportation News and Analysis July 15, 2011
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Valley Metro Reopens Its Central Station

Valley Metro reopened its primary public transportation hub, Central Station, in Phoenix, July 4 following an 11-month refurbishment process. The “facelift” project, funded with $3.7 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), provides improved passenger amenities and more environmentally friendly features to the 14-year-old facility.

Phoenix Public Transit Director Debbie Cotton explained that the station overhaul moved forward despite a lagging state economy and declining sales tax revenues, citing a combination of long-term planning and the federal funding. “We were fortunate that our planning staff made Central Station’s refurbishment as ‘shovel-ready’ as possible before ARRA funding became available,” she said. “ARRA money was vital to getting this project done for our passengers, and staff planning was vital to getting that federal support.”

Transit users passing through Central Station will see such benefits as enhanced shade cover from shade trees and fabric canopies, bike lockers, more visible on-site signage, and improved nighttime lighting. New landscaping helps integrate the 2.6-acre site with its neighbors, a city park, and the downtown Phoenix campus of Arizona State University.

Green upgrades to the facility, originally built in 1997, include several changes aimed at garnering a future LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) EBOM (Existing Building Operations and Maintenance) certification. If successful, the Central Station project will become one of the first in Phoenix to meet that standard through refurbishment. These alternations include the addition of photovoltaic solar components, which can generate up to 35 percent of the energy needed to operate the facility, as well as light-emitting diode lights, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and programmable irrigation.

“Green features like these aren’t just frills for us in Phoenix,” said Mark Melnychenko, a principal planner on the project. “Water conservation and solar energy are really key to successful, sustainable projects.”

 

Passengers disembark from a Phoenix DASH downtown circulator bus at the newly renovated Central Station.


 

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