When many Ahwatukee Foothills residents think of the proposed South Mountain Freeway the issue that springs to mind is the hotly contested potential placement of Loop 202 along Pecos Road.

However, mounting pressure to reach a decision on the freeway's western alignment has lately pushed the Pecos Road debate to the backseat.

At a meeting last week of the South Mountain Citizens Advisory Team, the Arizona Department of Transportation asked the citizens' group to make its recommendation on one of three preferred alignments for the western leg by late January.  

Several members said they still lacked information critical to an informed decision and questioned the accelerated timetable.

"I don't understand why, after three years, all of a sudden in the last three months everything has to end," said David Lafferty, who represents Tolleson on the advisory team. "I want to know what's going on. Something's happening."

What's happening, ADOT officials said, is that the long-delayed proposed freeway has caused a backlog on other transportation and development projects crucial to state and local governments.

ADOT has proposed connecting Interstate 10 to the southern leg of Loop 202 through 55th Avenue, 71st Avenue or Loop 101.

In the rapidly-expanding West Valley, the future of the South Mountain Freeway has "absolutely" been the sticking point on a number of development projects stymied by uncertainty over the freeway's location, ADOT spokesman Matt Burdick said.

With the one-year anniversary approaching of the passage of Proposition 400, the half-cent sales tax voters approved last November to fund 20 years' of transportation projects, local governments are getting eager to see work move ahead.

"They want to know where things are going," Burdick said.

ADOT has at least five freeway construction or expansion projects in planning stages now where progress is in some way contingent upon a decision on the South Mountain Freeway western alignment, Burdick said.

Though representatives of cities affected by the freeway said they also want to see the project move forward, many questioned the group's ability to adequately digest the bulkhead of technical information the committee will receive in coming months.

Peggy Eastburn, who represents Phoenix's Estrella Village, criticized ADOT during the meeting for being slow to present information on the number of homes and businesses impacted by the proposed alignments.

"The questions we need to be asking are how many rooftops are going to be damaged? How many businesses are going to be displaced?" Eastburn said. "These questions aren't getting answered because ADOT's holding back information."

ADOT's technical reports were delayed pending the resolution of several potential conflicts with properties eligible for historic preservation that lie in the path of potential alignments, Burdick said.

The group will receive 22 technical reports in the next 2 1/2months with detailed information on the lands and properties impacted, he said. In order to reach a decision by late January, the group will continue to meet monthly through the end of this year and will have several meetings in January.

Though the rushed timetable has frustrated some team members, many said they were anxious to see progress.

"The sooner we have a plan and put it in place, the better, because of the explosive growth in the West Valley," said Jim Buster of Avondale.