Freeway alignment options down to 3
A final decision not expected till 2007

West Valley View

11-18-05
Daniel Burnette, staff writer

The alignment of the future South Mountain Freeway has been narrowed down to three alternatives, but a final decision on where the roadway will be built isn’t expected until the summer of 2007, transportation planners said.

The South Mountain Freeway would link up Loop 202 on the southern end of the Valley, eventually taking the roadway along the edge of its namesake to link up with Interstate 10 (in two of the possible alignments) or Loop 101 at I-10 (the third possible alignment).

The Arizona Department of Transportation hosted an open house Tuesday in Avondale on the possible alignments.

The three choices are 55th Avenue in Phoenix, 71st Avenue in Phoenix and 99th Avenue, roughly along the border of Tolleson and Avondale. The choices have been narrowed down from more than 30 options that have been discussed over the years.

ADOT unveiled large aerial photographs of the respective areas, with colored film overlaying the photos to show the potential alignments of the roadway.

Planning for a South Mountain Freeway has been in the works for 20 years. The freeway’s first phase is expected to include three lanes of traffic in each direction, said Amy Edwards, a private consultant on the project.

Construction is expected to begin sometime in 2009, with completion in 2015, ADOT spokesman Matt Burdick said.

Only 15 years after the initial phase is completed, transportation planners expect two more lanes to be added in each direction, Edwards said.

“By 2030, we see the demand will be there for five lanes of traffic in each direction, including one HOV lane in each direction,” Edwards said.

Cost of the project hasn’t been estimated yet, because it will depend in great part on acquisition of rights of way, which won’t begin until a final decision is made on the alignment, Burdick said.

Choice of the alignment will include myriad factors, with one being the disruption to households and businesses in the path of the freeway, Burdick said.

The Loop 101 alignment would require razing somewhere between 240 and 530 houses and 10 to 15 businesses, charts at the open house showed; the 71st Avenue alignment would take out around 780 houses and 15 businesses; and the 55th Avenue route would require razing 120 houses and 78 businesses.

Information on the proposed alignments is available at the Web site www.SouthMountainFreeway.com.