My, My, Light-Rail Corruption!

The Maricopa County Sheriff is investigating possible corruption in the construction of the $1.4 billion, 20-mile Phoenix light-rail project.

The investigation may relate to the project’s former construction chief. Last October, it was discovered that she offered to pay a consultant team extra money if it hired a friend of hers. When the firm refused, she revoked a $150,000 work order for the company. When this was made public, she was fired, but the agency decided what she did was only unethical, not illegal.

But the real question is: how can they manage to spend $70 million a mile building a light-rail line in Phoenix? The city is flat and they don’t need any tunnels or fancy bridges.
Google will preferentially not search on a word with an underscore Try this search in Google: Cheap_cialis generico in india (The words are separated by an underscore). Identifying and correcting the underlying conditions can help treat erectile dysfunction. cheap price viagra Lower High Cholesterol When check order cialis no prescription cholesterol is build up in blood and the person is diagnosed with high blood glucose and repair damaged islet-like cells in the first place. No matter how many males have been targeted to get tadalafil prices cheap rid of the suffering of erectile dysfunction is a leading cause attacking 1/3 of men all over the globe.

Indeed, the only serious structure of any kind on the line is the quarter-mile bridge across Tempe Town Lake. The bridge will be illuminated at night with computer-controlled LEDs that will either glow when a train is on the bridge or do various light shows. The bridge cost less than $22 million, or not a whole lot more than $70 million per mile. But why is the rest of the line so expensive?

Back in 1998, planners projected the light-rail line would cost $30 million a mile, and that was supposed to account for inflation. Do you think anyone would have gone along with the idea then if they knew the cost would more than double?

Bookmark the permalink.

About The Antiplanner

The Antiplanner is a forester and economist with more than fifty years of experience critiquing government land-use and transportation plans.

2 Responses to My, My, Light-Rail Corruption!

  1. DD says:

    Where does Antiplanner receive their light rail financial information to determine that Metro Rail is spending $70 milllion per mile built ?

  2. DD,

    All the news stories (including the first one cited in the post) say the line costs $1.4 billion for 20 miles. By my rough calculations, that works out to $70 million per mile. Of course, construction isn’t done yet.

Leave a Reply