South Mountain Freeway decision: 2 years is too long

West Valley View

11-29-05


After 20 years of preliminary planning, countless public hearings and seemingly endless discussions about where to build the South Mountain Freeway, the Arizona Department of Transportation says it finally has narrowed the field of alignment options to three, and will make the final decision in 2007.

While it’s admirable that our public officials finally have made a decision to make a decision — two years from now — more reasonable people might wonder what fantasy world they’re living in (or driving in). As we already sit in a freeway morass that only gets worse with each passing day and each new home that is sold, our leaders continue to pave the West Valley only with promises and plans to make plans to improve the transportation situation.

C’mon, folks — we don’t need a decision two years from now, we needed a decision two years ago (or more).

Someone needs to take the reins either at the state Legislature, the Maricopa Association of Governments or at ADOT and start hacking away at the red tape so these freeway projects can get moved up.

Not only does the state need to expedite the highway improvements that are already in the works for Interstate 10 west of Dysart Road, Loop 303, the South Mountain Freeway and the I-10 Reliever, someone needs to start planning Loop 404 and Loop 505 today, not 20 years after those highways should have been built.

Regardless of which alignment option is ultimately chosen, hundreds of homeowners and businesses will be displaced to make room for the new highway. Ahwatukee residents are already up in arms because the freeway would connect with I-10 through that development. The longer the decision is delayed, the more homes and businesses will be built in the path of the freeway and the more people will be forced out of their homes and businesses. Delaying the decision merely exacerbates the problem.

The people who plan the Valley’s freeway systems historically have been about 20 years behind the residential growth, yet we never seem to learn from the mistakes of the past. The growth is going to continue for decades; it’s high time the people who lead this state realize that and start planning accordingly.