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Future transit<br>plan unveiled

A traffic roundabout on State Route 64, a water tower and a transit station roof featuring vegetation are just a few of the proposals on the table for the future light-rail transit system at Grand Canyon National Park.

GCNP’s Brad Traver led a program featuring the first real details of future train transportation at the monthly General Management Plan meeting at the Shrine of the Ages.

“We’re still early in the process,” said Traver, who added that last week’s plans were about 30 percent complete.

Grand Canyon National Park’s Brad Traver goes over plans for the light-rail transit project, which is expected to be completed in early 2004.

The portion of the presentation that seemed to raise the most questions involved a traffic circle, or roundabout, which will become part of the main highway.

“It will be slow but continuously-moving traffic,” Traver said. “There will be signs, although we don’t know what they’ll say yet.”

A local businessperson in the audience, which was the largest crowd seen in the last couple of years at a GMP meeting, asked what the rationale is behind including a roundabout.

“What I think is a traffic signal won’t handle enough people,” Traver said. “It will back traffic up into the parking lot ... they (traffic engineers) say it’s not worth exploring.”

Other alternatives include an on-ramp, off-ramp setup from the highway into the transit parking lot area. But Traver said to go under State Route 64 would be “an enormous cost” and to go over the highway is not feasible based on the grades involved coming into the parking lot.

The Arizona Department of Transportation will have jurisdiction over the highway, Traver said.

The future visitor to the transit system will exit the highway via the roundabout and head into a parking area on both sides of the incoming road.

On each side, there will be two equal parking lots with the capacity to hold 1,400 vehicles each.

Tourists will make their way up to the transit center, where they can purchase tickets to ride the train into the park. The focal point of the entire plaza will be a tower.

“There will be a tower tall enough that you can see over a ridge from all of the parking lot,” Traver said. “It will also be an active water tower. It will store reclaim and harvested water. It will also serve as a photo opportunity (for tourists).”

Near the tower will be a building dedicated to providing information about overnight accommodations in the park. The area will be staffed by GCNP rangers.

The U.S. Forest Service and the Grand Canyon Chamber of Commerce also expressed interest in being part of the transit center by providing information on other area attractions and accommodations.

Planners also considered having a backcountry permit office, but Traver said that will not happen. It was decided that the best place for the backcountry office is right where it is today in the park.

There is another area which will house a security office and a first-aid station. And there will be two holding cells to be used by the Coconino County Sheriff’s Department.

Traver said GCNP rangers will support law-enforcement efforts by the county by having those cells available.

The transit center will feature two levels. Both levels will include plenty of restrooms, or “comfort stations.”

For the ticketing areas, tourists will be able to purchase transportation on the train either at a staffed booth or by an automatic teller.

A small retail store will also be integrated into the building. Traver said it would sell only last-minute emergency-type items, such as water, snacks and hats. It will be operated by the transit concessioner.

The exterior of the transit center will follow architectural guidelines of the National Park Service, such as stone excavated either from the site, the rail corridor or existing stone now in the park.

“We’re picking up a lot of the traditional National Park Service architecture there,” Traver said.

A potentially controversial aspect of the transit center involves the inclusion of a vegetated roof.

Traver said planners expect the roof to be an attractive option not only for its visual effect, but because its design will negate possible problems with exposure to ultraviolet rays. It will also not have people walking on it.

“It may have other problems, but not these,” Traver said.

When asked about possible problems involving snow, Traver said the soil on the roof will be heavier than snow and that will eliminate possibilities of leakage.

“The architects keep putting that in,” Traver said about the vegetated roof. “There are higher construction costs involved with the vegetated roof.”

Besides higher construction costs, which are passed on to the consumer, the vegetated roof idea would eliminate water collection capabilities for the building.

On the other side of the coin, Traver said there is the aesthetic value.

“There are tradeoffs throughout the project,” Traver said. “We need to look at benefits vs. costs. We’re doing the best we can to balance those things.”

Sitting in a forested area, there will obviously be trees removed for the project. Traver said it’s too early to determine how many trees would need to be removed.

During his presentation, Traver made several references to Canyon Forest Village, which , if the development materializes, would sit nearby.

In a scenario where CFV would not become a reality or if its plans would change, Traver said it would have no effect on the National Park Service’s plans involving the transit center.

“If there’s no CFV, it will just be a matter of working out a deal with the Forest Service, which we’ve talked about already,” Traver said.

CFV would have retail frontage to the facility near the parking lot area. The Insight building and the Native American Marketplace would be near the transit center.


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