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Valley Metro is one step closer to building a light-rail system that would link Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa, Ariz.



The agency recently selected Parsons Brinckerhoff to design and construct the Central Phoenix/East Valley light-rail transit project. The 20-mile transit line will include 26 stations, eight park-and-ride locations and 36 light-rail vehicles. The route would begin in Phoenix at 19th Avenue and Bethany Home Road, cut through downtown Phoenix and Tempe, and end at Longmore and Main streets in Mesa.



Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2004, with the first segment slated to open in late 2006. The transit line is being paid for through a four-tenths percent sales tax increase Valley Metro implemented in March 2000.