At the Nogales subdivision line. So these are the improvements we're proposing, which include the sidewalks, the new raised median and the bike lanes. And And this was submitted at the 60% submittal stage, but this is the improvements that we are moving forward with. And does the crossing still look this way? Or these are the still has there been any modifications to the modifications? There have not. No. Okay. If you would move to exhibit a five, identify what that exhibit is and give us background on it. Exhibit a five is the Bilby Road modernization project lane conversion feasibility study.
And the intention of this was to do a traffic analysis to understand where the dominant turning movements were occurring as well as what the traffic volumes are on the corridor. We were primarily focused between Nogales Highway to 12th Avenue, and the intent of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of eliminating a center turn lane, from that section west of Nogales. But I think it's relevant to this hearing today because we did pick up traffic volumes at the Nogales Intersection, Nogales Highway Intersection, which is about a 100 feet to the west of the crossing and is affected
by the configuration of the crossing. Were you a part of the feasibility study? I was. It was developed by Kimberly Horn and Associates, but as the project manager, I reviewed and directed it. And when was that feasibility study, conducted? In May 2023. And have there been any modifications to that study? There have not. There have not? Okay. I think we are if you would move to exhibit A6. And if you could if you could identify the exhibit? Exhibit a six is the design submittal at the 60% stage for the entirety of the Bilby Road modernization project covering 12th Avenue to Country Club Road,
the entire three miles. The intention No. No. I I wanted you I wanted you to tell me what the 60% stage is for those of us who aren't into, transportation. Can you explain it? So typically, our design submittals are iterative as we develop, design over a couple of years on a project. Oftentimes, we have a fifteen, thirty, 100% submittal. So '60 is when we're really starting to get into the details of design and laying out both the kind of vertical, horizontal alignment of the corridor and making sure that we are, you know,
establishing that project footprint and actually do more detailed design on the specific design features of it of the corridor of the project improvements. And were you a part of developing this I did not 60%? I did not create it. Again, it was created by Kimberly Horn and Associates. But as the project manager, I oversaw, provided guidance, directed, and reviewed this 60% submittal. So you have personal knowledge about this particular document? Correct. Okay. And has there been any changes or modifications to this document since it was submitted? There have. So subsequently, we've had the 90 and the 100% submittals.
However, we did not make any changes to the area directly impacted by this crossing. Most of those changes were outside outside or all of those changes were outside of the crossing footprint, and it was part of the iterate iteration of subsequent designs. Okay. And when you say outside of the, footprint, can you explain a little bit about what that means? So everything that was on the crossing exhibit was maintained as is within that Union Pacific right of way, basically, from 1st Avenue to New Nogales Highway. Okay. So this exhibit doesn't isn't modified by based on the 90%,
a 100% changes to the outside of the the Build Bureau project. Is that my understanding? Correct. Okay. Thank you. So I think we are on exhibit a seven. Can you tell the court what that exhibit is? Exhibit a seven is the crossing inventory provided by the US Department of Transportation, and the intention with this was just to have the underlying data and a shared understanding of what the activity at the crossing is. This is where we pulled information regarding the number of trains per day, as well as the school buses and some of the underlying information that was necessary
for the application. And were you a part of developing this particular study? I was not. It was developed by the, US Department of Transportation. Okay. And but you have reviewed it before today. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. And I think our last exhibit is exhibit a eight. Would you identify that exhibit? This is the public highway crossing at grade crossing agreement that was signed between the city of Tucson and Union Pacific Railroad. Okay. And were you a part of negotiating and developing that particular agreement? As the project manager on behalf of the city of Tucson,
we did review the crossing agreement with the assistance of the city attorney's office, recommended no changes, and advanced this to council and was subsequently signed by the mayor of the City Of Tucson. Okay. Thank you. Your honor, the these are exhibits a through one a one and a eight. We would like to move to have those admitted. They're also attached to our application as well. Right. I did have a question about a eight. That was not filed until you filed the most recent exhibit list. Correct? I'm sorry. It was not filed.
Eight? We did attach it. Part of the application? It wasn't part of the application because it was created after Right. But before this hearing because it had to go to mayor and council through a series of resolutions and approval. So the first time it was filed was, let's see, December 28 when you filed the last, exhibit list with all the attachments. I think it was filed in October, because mayor and council, I believe, signed it in What did I say? You said December. I'm so looking forward to Christmas already. That is two of us. October 28. I apologize. Yes. Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to about that.
Alright. Miss Layton, any objections? No objections, your honor. Alright. Then exhibits a one through a eight are admitted. Thank you, your honor. With that, I have no further questions for, mister Hartley. Okay. Miss Layton? Just a few questions. Thank you, your honor. Good morning, mister Hartley. Good morning. Did you have an opportunity to review the safety division memorandum? I'm not sure that I did. I looked at the staff report provided by Arizona Corporation Commission. Same thing. Same thing. Then yes. Okay. So do you agree with staff's conclusions and recommendations?
I do. And I believe, unless I missed it, the application does not include kind of a total project timeline. But the commission, should they approve this application, normally, there's sort of a a deadline of that approval, at least for the work that's within the crossing. Do you have an estimate of when that portion of the work would be completed? My understanding based on the agreement that was provided by Uni Pacific is the estimate they provided is good until April 2026. And in speaking with their consultant engineer,
their intention would be, upon approval that they can mobilize and get the work done prior to that. I don't Okay. Their I think my understanding is they are backlogged on materials, so that's probably gonna drive their schedule as to when they'll actually be able to do the work. Okay. So as far as the commission providing an order on the timeline, do you probably wanna add a little bit of cushion to UP's current estimate? What would what would the city of Tucson be comfortable with? Honestly, I don't have enough familiarity to know what Union Pacific's, timing is on their projects to be able to provide,
kind of defensible information on that. My understanding is based on communication is that they are comfortable doing it by April. So the intention is that they can mobilize and do their installations prior to our project starting. Alright. Fair enough. Thank you. I have no further questions, your honor. Alright. Thank you, miss Layton. Good morning, mister Hartley. Good morning. Okay. Looking at the the pictures of the project overhead, there are currently no sidewalks running along, Bilby around the train tracks? That is correct. And and also from the picture, I can't quite tell if it's a if a train is traveling through and traffic
eastbound, I think. Twelfth is the railroad tracks are east of, what is it, 12th? They're just East of Nogales Highway. Nogales Highway. Sorry. Thank you. So does traffic back up have have you observed traffic back up into the intersection there at Nogales Highway, or are you aware if that happens? I think because the signals are coordinated with the gate crossing that allows, basically, the traffic to clear, and then you have the red, so no new traffic is entering that 100 feet of space between the the signal and the railroad crossing. Okay. Well And one of the things mentioned was,
to for adding the median was to prevent unsafe drive can you explain that for me? Yep. So that is for the westbound movement on the approaches to Nogales. The way the intersection or the crossing is currently designed is that the left turn lane begins to taper and taper and open on the approach to Nogales Highway through the railroad crossing. With this improvement, what we're going to do is put in a vertical median where that current left turn lane is opening to channelize the vehicles into the Thru lane so they can
only enter the left turn lane once they have cleared the gate arm and to discourage what we have observed as a current of activity of people weaving between the gates. People are smart. Gonna beat this train. Right? Okay. Let's see. Have there been any, I'm sure it would be about the the project as a whole, but have there been public meetings about the building project? There have. So we've held public outreach meetings at both the 30% and the 60% submittals. The 30%, the intent is really to get broad feedback from the community about what they wanna
see in the project. And then the 60% public meetings is really opportunity for people to comment on the design as it develops. Will there be any further? There will not. Okay. There will be pre construction notification just to let people know that there is gonna be change to the way the roadway operates. But in terms of the design, we've got the 100% design, so that's pretty much locked in at this point. Okay. Does does Sun Tran, run along Bilby in that area? It does, but not across the this crossing. Oh, okay. It comes down Park and then heads east from Park to Campbell.
Okay. So as I was reading the application, I realized that some of the questions I was writing down had more to do with the building project rather than the train. So, but there was something about a removal of turn lanes. Are you talk were they talking about the, like, the ones we have on smaller roads that you can get into and then turn left from there and just making? Is that what That's correct. So that's why we did the feasibility study and we're focusing on, that section Nogales to 12th Avenue. At the approach to the Nogales signal, we're gonna retain the left turn lane at the signal itself,
but we are going to go down to a two lane roadway as you move further west, basically from Nogales to 12th Avenue. And the intention there was we've only got 48 feet of roadway. We have to accommodate on street parking. So in order to get in the the bike lanes that were part of the project intent, something had to go. So we did an evaluation of the the turning movements to see what the left turn volumes were, and it was, within our guidelines for elimination of the left turn lane. Okay. And the you mentioned that the left turn lane heading eastbound west the turn eastbound or what?
Whichever it is. I get eastbound. It's gonna be tapered. All the time. It's gonna be tapered. But there will still be a left turn lane even with the median. For both approaches to Nogales, there will be. What's gonna happen is the storage, the number of vehicles that can fit in that space is going to be reduced because to improve safety, we don't want them queuing through the railroad crossing. So they will have to enter after the railroad crossing, which should provide an adequate storage for about four or five vehicles. Based on the traffic analysis we did, that should provide adequate space given the low volume of left turns, but there might be situations in which the,
queue does go into the through lane. K. I know for the portion before the track, as you're going down building, there are currently no curbs? This section does have curb. Okay. But they're not where the not on the other side where the train tracks are. There's no curbs, no sidewalks, anything like that? Right across the track, no. That is correct. There are there are a couple curbs and there are a couple curb cuts that allow maintenance fields vehicles to access so they can work on the railroad. We did work with the Union Pacific and we will be closing some of those, but maintaining access because
on observation during the diagnostic and evidence based on the dirt that was out there, we saw a number of instances where people were shortcutting the signal at Nogales, driving through Union Pacific right of way to get onto Bilby Road using the curb cuts that were there for maintenance. So we're going to be closing those to basically eliminate that movement. Okay. Let's see. You mentioned that people driving around the arms are going through the right of way. Have there been any accidents related to that? According to the safety, report provided by the Arizona Corporation Commission in the last five years,
there have not. K. Well, that's good news. And I think you said, I lost my feed, so I was messing with my computer. I'm sorry. But you said that the projected start time was April or finished what I've missed what you said. I'm sorry. So the yeah. Within the crossing agreement, the, Union Pacific noted that the estimates provided were good until April 2026 with the anticipated start date before then for their work. Okay. We have to wait until Union Pacific has completed their track upgrades and the extension of the panels at the crossing before then our our contractor can get mobilized to
install the sidewalks across the new panels. We are anticipating probably a spring twenty twenty six start date for the overall project. What we will have to negotiate with the contractor would just be the sequencing phasing within their mobilization because it's a three mile corridor. So it's unlikely that they are gonna be working on all three miles simultaneously. We wanna be very sensitive to the academic calendar with the Sunnyside School District, so we are gonna be working around that as well to make sure that we're not tearing up the roadway during graduation or significant events on their calendar.
Okay. So we're working through all that. Tucson Water has also gotta get in before us to do some, waterline replacements. Okay. So as miss Leighton was talking about, a deadline So you can't begin anything until there are approvals by Union Pacific and some work done on their part, and you can't tell them when to have that done. Correct. Okay. So we can start elsewhere on the corridor Right. But we can't begin work on this section until the upgrades of the crossing are completed. Okay. Overall, how long is the project intended construction project intended to last at this point?
We're intest anticipating about a year of construction, maybe eighteen months. There will be work happening prior to the actual roadway project. There is gas line replacements and water replacements that are being conducted as a function of this, but independent of the city of Tucson. So Southwest Southwest Gas will be replacing, a gas line, and Tucson Water will be doing water work. Okay. So if and I'll ask mister Pike about this, but if the commission said, okay. This has to be done by December what year is this? '24 December 2027,
would the city feel comfortable that all of this would well, specifically, the railroad tracks would be done before then? Yes. December '27? Yeah. Yes. Okay. I mean, it sounds like it's likely to be done way before then, but since you okay. Got it. Alright. That's those are all the questions I have. Miss Senson, any redirect? Okay. Was your microphone on? No. We direct, your honor. Okay. Miss Layton? Yeah. I don't have any additional questions. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. Alright. Mister Hartley, thank you so much. Thank you very much, your honor.
I just had to, like, put away my list of all the questions about the rest of the project. Alright. You're excused. And let me then go to, miss Layton. Yes. Your honor, staff call is Jason Pike. Mister Pike, if you can unmute yourself. Good morning, your honor. Okay. Good morning. If you could please raise your right hand to be sworn in by the court reporter. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Alright. Thank you. Miss Layton? Thank you. Good morning, mister Pike. Can you please state your name for the record?
Jason Pike, p I k e. And where are you employed? At the Arizona Corporation Commission as a railroad safety inspector. Were you assigned to review this application for the modification of an upgrade crossing? Yes. And what did your work or review of the application consist of? I attended the diagnostic, reviewed the design plans, as things went along, and, produced this, the staff report. And is that staff report marked as exhibit s one? I believe so. And you just stated that you prepared this personally?
Yes. Do you have any corrections to make to it at this time? No. And do you adopt the contents of that staff report as part of your sworn testimony today? I do. Your honor, I'd go ahead and move for admission of exhibit s one. Alright. Miss Simpson, any objections? No objections, your honor. Thank you. S one is admitted. Thank you. Mister Pike, do you believe the project plan ensures that, appropriate crossing protections for the new sidewalks and bike lanes? I do. And in your opinion, are there the proposed modifications to the crossing consistent with current safety standards and similar
accurate crossings in the state? Yes. They are. Are the proposed modifications in the public interest? Yes. And do you recommend that the application be approved? Yes. I do. K. And it sounds like based on the judge's questions of mister Hartley, we're leaning towards recommending a twenty four months or, December 2027 deadline for completion. Do you have any opinions about that? I think twenty four months is a a good target. Alright. And I believe it was marked as exhibit a eight is the construction and maintenance
agreement. Have you had a chance to look at that at all? Yes. I just looked at it, this morning. Okay. Do you have any concerns about that, the apportionment of cost or ongoing maintenance? No concerns. Alright. Those are all my questions. Thank you. Thank you, miss Layton. Okay. Miss Layton asked my questions. And I think, mister Hartley talked about there were no accidents reported at those tracks reported to the commission or investigated by the commission. That's correct. Okay. Okay. That's everything. Do you have any, recross? No, your honor. Okay. Is Hartley any redirect? Miss Clayton.
What did I say? Oh, good heavens. My laptop is acting out, so I'm get I'm getting a little confuzzled here as one of our attorneys or one of our staff attorneys used to say. She was confuzzled all the time. Alright. Miss Layton, do you have any redirect? No, your honor. Okay. I apologize for that. Forgive me. No worries. Thank you. Alright. Mister Pike, thank you so much for putting on a tie and coming down today. I appreciate that. Wow. You're welcome. Not necessary at all, but thank you. Okay. Miss Layton, does staff have any further witnesses? No, your honor. Alright. Thank you.
And with that, I think we have everything. Any any rebuttal testimony, miss Senson? No, your your honor. Alright. Thank you. Okay. Then we are finished. Let me ask, if you would like miss Sensen, if you would like to make any closing statements. I don't think it at this time, your honor, it would be necessary. I think we were I thought I was pretty comprehensive in the opening statement, which would be just a re repeat of the same thing. But our only request is that the court grant, the modifications. Great. Thank you. Miss Layton? No closing for me, your honor. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. Then oops. Sorry.
It was just confirmed that we've admitted exhibits a one through a eight and exhibit S1. Is that miss Sensen, are those correct, your exhibits? Yes, your honor. And S1, does all staff has, miss Layton? Yes, your honor. All right. Thank you. And with that, this concludes the hearing. The matter will be taken under advisement pending the submission of a recommended opinion and order to the commission for their approval. And we are adjourned. Thank you. Let's go off the record. Jennifer, did you have any clarifications that you needed? I do not, Judge. Thank you. Alright. Everybody, thank you. I apologize.
I'm having still having issues with my laptop up here, but but we are done, so don't have to worry about it anymore. Thank you very much for your time today. I appreciate it. Thank you. Bye. Thank you.