Historic farming community may alter route of South Mountain Freeway

Corinne Purtill
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 29, 2005 05:00 PM

One of three potential alignments for the western leg of the proposed South Mountain Freeway might have to be altered to spare a historic Hispanic farming community.

Santa Maria, an 88-acre unincorporated community located east of 67th Avenue and South of Lower Buckeye Road, is considered a "living example of a historic Hispanic rural community," transportation engineer Chris Clary-Lemon told the South Mountain Citizens Advisory Team at their meeting Thursday night.

As currently mapped by the Arizona Department of Transportation, the proposed link would connect the South Mountain Freeway to Interstate 10 at 71st Avenue in west Phoenix. The alignment would clip the northwest corner of the community, impacting about 20 of the 130 homes there.

The community may be eligible for historic protection, which means that ADOT must make an effort to avoid it or minimize impact on the community.

Realigning the freeway is tricky, as Santa Maria Middle School is situated catty-corner from Santa Maria on Lower Buckeye Road.

Advisory team members working in groups sketched out four alternatives to the alignment on oversized maps, which Clary-Lemon said his consulting group would review and discuss at the next meeting.

In jest, Michael Goodman of the Phoenix Mountains Preservation Council drew an alternative that would run the freeway directly through the Wal-Mart Supercenter on 75th Avenue, a proposal that drew playful protest from fellow group members.

The 71st Avenue option is one of three alignments that ADOT has suggested to connect the South Mountain Freeway to the I-10 in the west. The other two would link the freeways at 55th Avenue and Loop 101.