Custom artwork along Mesa light rail to be completed this week

PHOENIX — The light rail extension project through downtown Mesa is reaching another milestone.

According to Valley Metro’s Public Information Specialist Corinne Holliday, station work on the 3.1-mile extension is nearing completion and the project is beginning to take shape.

“It looks amazing,” she said.

The project to extend the light rail line began in 2012 and Holliday said construction on the entirety of the project is about two-thirds complete. However, all the custom artwork that will be on displayed at stations will finish being installed this week.

“The three-mile project is really taking an updated look, there’s new paving, traffic signals and, of course, we have new stations as well as some beautiful station art,” Holliday said.

The only work still needing completion are finishing touches to the station platforms.

Construction on the line should be completed later this fall, and not long after that, residents in the area could begin seeing trains running the line for testing and training.

After that, the line will open to the public, as Holliday said Valley Metro expects the first passenger trips to take place in about a year.