Transcontinental Links

Tempe, AZ

Stop on the proposed 17,000-mile maglev network. Next stop: Scottsdale, AZ (5.0 mi).

About Tempe

Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2020 population of 180,587. The city is home to the main campus of Arizona State University, one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the United States.

Source: Wikipedia summary (full article). Population and facts as published there.

Cost breakdown (proposal-scale estimates — see math)

⚠️ All figures below are parametric estimates scaled from the proposal's own budget ($8.5T ÷ 17,000 mi ≈ $500M per mile), not engineering quotes. Methodology is shown so you can check the math.

Item	Basis	Estimate
Terminal construction	Small-city terminal (parametric range $0.5–1B)	$0.75B
Land acquisition	Regional factor 1.0× on $200M base	$200M
Track: Tempe → Scottsdale	5.0 mi × $500M/mi	$2.5B
Annual operations (share)	Staffing, power, maintenance	$15M/yr
Stop total (excl. annual ops)		$3.5B

Best terminal location (proposed)

The Tempe Transportation Center / ASU district. The Tempe Transportation Center is Valley Metro's busiest light-rail transfer point, directly serving Arizona State University's 80,000-plus students and the Mill Avenue district. The site captures the metro's densest transit-oriented catchment and sits minutes from Sky Harbor.

Before / after

Before and after aerial mock-up of the proposed maglev terminal at Tempe, AZ

Aerial mock-up (illustrative, not an engineering rendering). Left: the proposed site today. Right: with the maglev terminal.

🛤️ Infill stops toward Scottsdale: the proposal envisions more stops than cities — smaller stations between majors. Plausible infills on this leg:

The ASU Research Park — employment infill.
South Tempe (Warner corridor) — suburban infill.
The Tempe Marketplace district — retail corridor.

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