Transportation Master Plan

I cannot say enough places how against any light rail expansion, commuter rail or street car (depending on the section) down Dobson I am. I remain unconvinced by what I believe are inflated ridership numbers and do not see the community value. I do not want a people mover for Cubs Spring training that will go unused by Mesa residents year round. The canal pathways would be a much better served project and continue to be neglected in proposals with no actionable items outside of noting how unusable they currently are.

I am a downtown mesa resident.35 years old incase you need that. I've lived between center, university and southern all my
Life. I'm all for this BUT it's weird that mesa drive and Broadway is always in construction. These projects need to be sped up. By the time it's done I'll be 60 it seems. Anyways my advice is to keep thinking on ways it could go wrong or whatever to avoid 24/7 and forever construction. Just please over analyze this. Nothing is more annoying than never ending construction on busy roads

I don't see any improvements noted for the intersections of US 60 at Ellsworth, Crismon, or Signal Butte relative to adding additional through lanes, dual left turn lanes or right turn lanes. During existing peak hours there is a need for some of these improvements, and definitely needed in the long term.

Very impressed. Thank you to everyone involved!

Thank you for putting this plan together, it was awesome and so comprehensive! I would like to advocate for the Alma school rd & UPRR Railroad crossing improvements to be moved into the short term category. That train sits there blocking the intersection for 15+ minutes!

I look forward to the Corridor Study of University Drive from Gilbert to the west. It’s an interesting area.

Stapley Drive and University getting turn lanes is much needed! Very excited. And for the country club improvements!

I’m biased but I’d also hope to prioritize safety improvements along Rio salado and Alma School as well as Alma School and Main Street. That light rail stop is right by that railroad crossing where traffic gets blocked, it can get messy!

Thank you!

As noted in this plan, more bike connections are needed to downtown. As streets are redone, particularly arterials, separated bike infrastructure is needed to effectively move people. Current bike lines against traffic on arterials are not used because, as this report notes, they are not safe. For biking to be a realistic alternative to driving, they must be a safe path.

I am disappointed at the lack of light rail expansion discussed. The light rail has been a huge boon for downtown. Expanding that system and connecting more destinations would also more effectively move people in our community while at the same time making our community more accessible.

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Recker Rd north of Thomas going into and coming out of Red Mountian Ranch community are many, many vehicles that need to slow way, way down. The speed limit should be a 30 mph zone but 40-60 mph is the norm. I'd appreciate it if the city can add several speed-bumps to eliminate the speeders. There kids walking home from school, a park, bike riders, moms walking their baby carrages and dogs all while vehicles are speeding by... it is just a matter of time before there is a serious fatal accident.

Regarding transportation in North Mesa, desperately need a right turn lane for eastbound McKellips to southbound Higley, it backs up daily. Even more so, there needs to be raised median islands on McKellips on either side of Gilbert Road - it’s suicide trying to make left turns. In saying that, please be respectful of the residents when planning medians, too often the focus is on business access when there is plenty of it.
Also, please improve the Mesa-side of the SRP Canal paths!! They’re used regularly by so many people and they’re substandard, at best . . . but just above using the very narrow, attached sidewalks along major roadways, so still a better option. It was okay until SRP decided to remove their asphalt path and put down some sort of surface that isn’t even - it’s terrible to walk/run/bike on that uneven surface. When I called, they say “that’s Mesa’s side”.
Would love to see six lanes on more of our north-south arterials, especially during the peak winter visitor season, the four lanes just don’t cut it with the “pace cars” maintaining the below-speed-limit driving. :)
Thanks for the opportunity to provide input!

I am a home owner on South Dobson rd. W.Broadway rd to West Southern is mostly residential properties. I am against rail car project for Rio Salado through Dobson rd to W. Southern Ave to North Country Club. There is no logical reason this part of Mesa doesn’t have anything to offer. Running a rail through residential neighborhoods should not be allowed. Since the rail on Main St brought in homeless from West Phoenix. The areas has declined and is dirty at Fry’s store West Main homeless living at bus stop area. Country Club and Southern rd Goodwill homeless pushing carts, urinating on North side of building. Rail on Main St doesn’t get enough riders to justify the cost of that project.

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Traffic Roundabouts create more problems than they solve.

Last year I used the buses in West Mesa for several weeks.
During the Day: Too many of the bus stops have no shelter from the sun, so unless you have the exact time of the bus, you will die waiting in the heat. During the day I saw many students or working folks getting to their destinations. Unfortunately, there are also too many crack-heads on the buses as well, typically arguing with the drivers or harassing other passengers, or doing some sort of ticket/pass scam.
At Night: Too many of the bus stops are poorly lit and in dangerous locations. I often would stand 20-ft *away* from the bus shelter to avoid the shady activity going on there (and then dash to the bus when it arrived). But if you need drugs or sex, several stops can fulfill your needs!
Also many of the routes are abbreviated at night. So I'd have to walk the last mile at 10pm on the route I'd take earlier in the day.
Many of the signs at the bus shelters are damaged, defaced, or out of date. (I confirmed this with Valley Metro. The phone number to text for bus schedule was the OLD number, and they admitted that.)
The bus fare was a bargain, and the drivers courteous and helpful.

1) Painting a line in the side of the street does NOT constitute a Bike Lane! It's an insult. Stop pretending Mesa is "bike friendly" or has "bike routes".
2) Who do I have to sleep with to get Mesa to fix someone of the dangerous pot-holes? Same complaints month after months; never fixed.
3) Same complaint for dead streetlights. I've given up on reporting them. The never get fixed.
4) The mid-block crossing light on Main Street between Macdonald and Robson is a DANGEROUS HAZARD (140 W Main). Poorly marked and confusing stop stop lights. Cars ROUTINELY zip thru the red light, or screech to a halt PAST the light (rather than before the crosswalk). Eventually there will be a fatality here.
5) Speeding cars on Main St (downtown area). Speed limit is 25mpg. It's a congested area with many pedestrians, but cars often exceed 45mph. (Especially Fri & Sat nights.)
6) Late evenings is a nightmare to get thru downtown Mesa. The PARKED TRAINS block traffic on most the streets (e.g. Extension, Alma School), and people are forced to back-track to Country Club Drive to the only underpass under the train tracks.
7) Excessive Jay-Walking throughout the city. Especially on (Alma School south of Main St.) (Extension & Broadway) (Country Club & Main St). Something about the design of these areas encourages Jay-Walking either against the light or outside the cross-walks. Often people trying to dash for bus stop to bus stop. Some pedestrian barriers or police enforcement is needed.
8) Light Rail platforms in downtown Mesa ROUTINELY have people jumping off the platform, crossing tracks, and jay-walking thru traffic lanes. Other cities don't have this problem. Something about the design is lacking.
9) Too many downtown events block off the streets with poorly placed traffic barricades, or confusing detours. The limited parking is even less available.
10) We understand the difference between a construction zone and an auto accident. But Mesa constantly used Red & Blue flashing lights on Police cars parked at construction zones which just adds to the confusion. (Is there an accident ahead and area to be avoided?) Flashing Yellow lights should be sufficient for construction zones.
11) Some construction projects go on forever. The same lanes are blocked and barriers left standing for months. Yet there appears to be no construction activity for weeks at a time. It's nice to see overdue repairs being made, but a tighter construction schedule would be appreciated.
12) It would be nice if the city was open FIVE days a week like normal people work. Waiting a long 3-day weekend to get some problems addressed is too long.

There are a lot of existing conditions that Mesa should be very serious about establishing good data for that provides a floor for measurable improvements for its goals. Key issues involve conditions for comfort, safety, and usefulness for a variety of users. Decades of prioritizing motorist capacity has left the City of Mesa with a heavy burden of maintenance, burdens of enforcement, burdens of crashes with fatalities and serious injuries, impacts of tailpipe emissions, and burdens of expensive-to-retrofit for accessibility to people experiencing a disability (or other vulnerabilities). Decades of prioritizing motorist capacity has left the people of Mesa with hostile roadway conditions to navigate on foot, bike, or rolling on small devices of all kinds, inefficient land use patterns that are burdened with excessive parking, excessive drive-thrus, excessive heat-inducing asphalt, inadequate tree shade, inadequate activity levels to maintain healthy bodies, insufficient levels of access by active transport, and excessive monetary and/or time investments of transporting themselves around to everyday destinations.

Both city operations and people of Mesa would benefit from a transformational ambition to remake the roads and streets of Mesa to improve access, safety, interest, utility, comfort, and ultimately the experience of the public realm in our most under-appreciated public asset: The Street. With properly designed street networks, we can improve upon all the above burdens and impacts listed. And improved experiences for people lead to curb appeal that improves the conditions for economic development, public safety, and operation/maintenance burdens. Transportation system build-out is a responsibility that is squarely on the City (unlike housing, jobs, commerce, and various land development goals via private investment).

The current hellish landscape that we accept for our roadways are miserable places for an experience, with a few notable exceptions (thank you downtown!). The wrong priorities have shaped our streetscape experiences for too long. We have a huge backlog of streets to bring back to life for people, safety, redevelopment, and equitable access for all. We need clear baseline standards to improve from, and we need clear criteria to meaningfully prioritize the experience. We need to do this with as much focus as we dedicated to bringing back Downtown Mesa. The Streetcar vision must acknowledge these transformative ambitions or risk being a boondoggle of a project. And that's only the start of my list.

1. More priority lights for Bikes, Light Rail, Bus and People. Emergency vehicles can also be included in this so they do not have to turn on sirens at every stop.
2. Sidewalk widening by 6 inches. Cars only have peak 4 hours a day. Mass Transit is all day and night. Prioritize what most people will use in a city of 500k and above all day everyday, Not cars.
3. Research Dedicated Bus Lanes w photo enforcement. Emergency Vehicles can have exemption to use as well to shortcut around traffic.
4. Mass transit goals should be to connect Density of residential areas like Condos, Multifamily, connecting to density of huge popular spots like Asian District, Fiesta Mall etc with higher frequency. Than to lower frequency on low density areas like Suburbs, causing low ridership. Current system is not efficient resulting in low use because lack of frequency.
5. No park and rides because like mentioned above you are prioritizing what not many people use longer than 4 hours a day and goes unused the rest of the day, it needs to be TOD W Mixed Use Areas and absolutely NO PARKING to have Transit become important fixture of Mesa and spur ridership growth.

Will end by saying Light Rail has helped Asian District attract tons of high end business from Japan to South Korea same can be done anywhere else thanks to the stop here. Mass Transit if implemented really well can attract even more business opportunities, prevent bad inequities. Look no further than any E. Asian Country. South Korea, Japan or China. Light Rail is a success, only selfish person think it's not.

More Road Diets, Bike Paths, and a focus on TOD for Mass Transit in regards to the Light Rail which i support the Light Rail. Also painted Bus Routes would be a great idea and camera enforcement as well would be beneficial to support more Mass Transit in the future. Also I do think Busses should focus on Frequency in key dense areas like Apartments and Condos to popular hub spots rather than random areas to bring efficiency and speed up.

It's time to 86 the light rail. As a resident nearby I can tell you it's more trouble than it's worth and it's killing the city. Main has one lane for traffic and basically THREE lanes for the train that you can't cross and you can't pass a slower vehicle in front of you. We can all clearly see the number of people riding the train is peanuts compared to the amount of traffic that to get through. For every train rider there's at least 100 motorists traveling in that area. Local businesses are suffering for this billion dollar boondoggle. Time to tear it out and open up the city before it's too late. Young people want lanes for bicycles, scooters and E-bikes not the costly monstrosity that goes right down the middle of the road. Be a leader with a mind for what's right and toss it!! You'll save the city millions and generate so much more in commerce, it's not the way of the future and we want our city back.

Connectivity of transportation alternatives is a worthy goal. It isn't enough to have bike paths, they need to be safe and connected. The Phoenix-Tempe multiuse path is a great way to commute toward downtown phoenix via bike, but it just dumps you off unsafely on Alma School Road in Mesa. Look at the MAG map, and you will see all these beautiful orange multi-use paths that are all connected...except the gauntlet between Alma School and Country Club. Paint doesn't protect cyclists, as those paths are often uneven shoulders filled with road debris and motorists driving 55mph over your shoulder. I would love to be one of those people who never got in a car again, but I don't want to die. Safe, connected, multi-use paths along the Salt River and canals in Mesa would provide a direct alternative to car-commuting and help to get people off the roadways.

As someone that lives in Mesa Full Time near Dobson Ranch and Fiesta Mall, I do have ideas to move Mesa to be a transportation pioneer in the 21st century because very few cities have a place where you do not need a car to get anywhere which i am passionate about. Here is a few major plans I have envisioned for Mesa and criticisms to help make it greater within the next 25 years.

1. Like others would I like to take to go bicycling by taking my scooter E-Bike but the infrastructure is very subpar and there is zero protected Bike Lanes and even Bike Paths. Paint is not protection for cyclists and as other cities are learning Bike Lanes reduce pedestrian and cycling deaths by 50% and cycling traffic increases as does walking due to both feeling safe.

2. Red Painted Dedicated Bus Lanes. As Buses do not need to be protected like cyclists and pedestrians do. But it would help those in Cars know where Buses will be parking and not look sudden and also help Bus Drivers know where to park.

3. BRT aka Bus Rapid Transit should be considered for all hubs until more Streetcars and Light Rail is built and co-exist alongside it to help out of Trains are late.

4. Transit Orientated Development for huge hubs where Light Rail stops and also for the eventual areas where Streetcar Tempe-Mesa ends up in this city.

5. Please end parking minimums and let the market decide as not doing so will in turn cause Mesa to be more reliant on Drive-Thru's as I agree with the city council that Mesa deserves better than this. Parking Lots take up so much space that is hardly used and is bad land use, that better things could be built like Mixed Use Developments, Parks or even just Cycling paths.

I will end off by pleading with the city of Mesa Council members and Mayor John Giles to implement these plans. This is not unreasonable, it is the future and many statistics will bear out that future generations desire freedom of transit options not restrictions of transit options. It's beneficial for the ADA, the elderly, children and serves everyone in the community equally.