University Drive/Rural station
light rail station in Tempe, Arizona
University Drive/Rural station, also known as ASU Earth/Space/Life Center, is a station on the A Line of the Valley Metro Rail & Streetcar system in Tempe, Arizona, United States. The station consists of two side platforms on the northeastern edge of the campus of Arizona State University. The station is not actually at the intersection of its named streets, sitting some distance south of University Drive, with the platforms running northwest from Rural Road along the former alignment of the Phoenix and Eastern Railroad.
A transit center is located to the west of the station, with connections to three Tempe Orbit bus lines, the ASU Tempe-Polytechnic campus shuttle for ASU students, and the Tucson-Phoenix-Flagstaff FlixBus line.
The station features The Spirit of Inquiry, a monumental spherical sculpture by Seattle artists Bill Will and Norie Sato.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “University Drive/Rural station” as light rail station in Tempe, Arizona. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as light rail station in Tempe, Arizona. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7894684. Authority coordinates are 33.421, -111.927. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “University Drive/Rural station”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow University Drive/Rural station primary sources, University Drive/Rural station archive and University research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “University Drive/Rural station”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “University Drive/Rural station” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.