The PHX Sky Train will serve passengers getting to and from the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (Airport) from the City's light rail system, between terminals, parking facilities and eventually to the Rental Car Center west of the Airport. To do this, the train guideway must cross over and under taxiways, through Runway Protection Zones (RPZs), across railroads, pass over existing pedestrian bridges, and connect to existing terminal buildings through a very congested and narrow corridor. Finding the right guideway alignment and station locations to best serve Sky Train users, while minimizing costs and maximizing ridership, was an extremely challenging process. This paper reviews some of the constraints and alternatives that were considered during the guideway alignment development, including preliminary plans to tunnel under Terminal 4 and Terminal 3 and why the Airport ultimately decided to cross over Taxiway R instead. The paper discusses the interesting challenges associated with determining the best alignment for the PHX Sky Train, including the crossing of Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR), utilizing the SR-153 roadway corridor, impacts and enhancements to the East Economy Parking, crossing Taxiways R, S, and T, and connection points to each of the Terminals. The alignment development was heavily influenced by the Airport's desire to increase ridership, remove buses and traffic from the airport roadways to relieve congestion, and to provide excellent customer service. The paper concludes with a brief look ahead to the upcoming design challenges associated with extending the train alignment to the Rental Car Center, which will be the largest driver of passenger activity on the system.
Development of the PHX Sky Train Guideway Alignment
14th International Conference on Automated People Movers and Automated Transit Systems ; 2013 ; Phoenix, Arizona
2013-04-29
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
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