Valley Metro taps Jacobs to design Phoenix light-rail extension

Valley Metro has chosen Jacobs Engineering Inc. to design the second phase of the transit agency's Northwest light-rail extension in Phoenix.

The firm will collaborate with the city, station artists, community members and the project's construction contractor — a Kiewit-McCarthy joint venture — to determine the "best means and methods" for the project's design and construction, agency officials said in a press release.

The financial value of the design services agreement was not disclosed.

Phase II of the Northwest extension calls for building 1.5 miles of light rail along Dunlap and 25th avenues in Phoenix, with a terminus on the west side of Interstate 17 near Metrocenter Mall.

Originally slated to open in 2026, the second phase now is on track to be completed by 2023. In 2016, the Phoenix City Council approved accelerating the extension and two other light rail projects through Transportation 2050, a multimodal transportation plan that Phoenix voters approved in August 2015.