by Doug Murphy Staff Writer
Ahwatukee Foothills News, 4/21/2004
A quasi-public group that is involved in monitoring the progress in identifying possible routes for the proposed South Mountain Loop 202 Freeway has decided to open its meetings to the public starting this week.
The South Mountain Loop 202 Citizens Advisory Team will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the clubhouse of the Bougainvillea Golf Club, 5740 W. Baseline Road in Laveen.
Created by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) in 2002, the team is intended to act as a sounding board and to provide feedback for the environmental impact study as part of the search for an updated freeway route. It meets on an irregular basis as information becomes available.
Until now the team has opened one other meeting to the public.
The agenda on Thursday focuses entirely on interchange design possibilities linking the north-south leg of South Mountain Loop 202 Freeway with Interstate 10 in the West Valley.
The east-west leg of the freeway was originally planned in 1988 to run along Pecos Road. In 2001, ADOT began the environmental impact study to search for an updated route that takes the rapid growth of the area into consideration.
So far the only tangible progress the study has made is on the west side where ADOT has identified three possible routes, with two variations. The routes would connect Loop 202 with I-10 at one of three locations: near 55th Avenue, west of 69th Avenue or at Loop 101.
Where the freeway will be built in the Ahwatukee Foothills area is still undecided. ADOT has been conducting discussions with the Gila River Indian Community on possible routes south of Pecos Road, but no decisions have been made.
For information, contact the study team at (602) 712-7006 or visit www.azdot.gov/ROADS/SouthMtn/index.htm.
The reporter can be reached at (480) 898-7914 or by e-mail at dmurphy@aztrib.com.