ADOT struggles to handle growth

Plan for Pinal County freeways to be sent to state board

Carl Holcombe
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 10, 2005 12:00 AM

Arizona Department of Transportation officials admitted Friday that better policies are needed for selecting freeway routes before thousands of houses are built in high-growth areas.

ADOT officials have come under fire for bumper-to-bumper jams on Interstate 17 at Anthem and for trying to place the South Mountain Freeway through the Ahwatukee Foothills after thousands of houses have already been built.

"We're trying to address these issues before explosive growth (in Pinal County)," said ADOT Director Victor Mendez during a Pinal Partnership meeting Friday in Casa Grande. "We need a more coordinated approach."  

Others believe a major overhaul is needed.

"The system is behind the curve," said Gordon Brown, a county resident. "It's based on getting people before you get the infrastructure. Explosive growth doesn't work like that, the whole thing falls apart."

Freeway and highway choices for an ambitious Pinal County transportation plan will cost $6 billion and are about two years away, while the county sits on the edge of a decades-long home-building explosion.

The latest proposal will go to the State Transportation Board early next year for approval and to pick a corridor through the Florence area. Freeways are years away from groundbreaking.

The ADOT studies were criticized for shortchanging county population growth estimates through 2025 by more than 1 million people.

Florence officials, developers and area residents are worried that one of two proposed ADOT freeway corridors running north-south could bore through the heart of Merrill Ranch and other developments.

"It could hurt us economically in the long run," said Florence Mayor Tom Rankin.

Dale Buskirk, an ADOT planner, said, "The issues are complex and there is some conflict among (cities and developers)."

Residents are desperate.

"We don't want (freeways) to run over our properties, but we'd like to have a freeway close by," Don Northcutt said.

Coolidge stands to gain substantially from a west side corridor, linking to a possible state highway with a future airpark and 1.2 million-square-foot indoor mall, power center and a 60-acre auto mall.

Florence benefits from an eastward sweep, which would take the freeway through State Trust land and undeveloped areas. An Anthem development is planned, mapped and ground has been broken, and Rankin and developers rue the prospect of ADOT buying up houses to make room for a freeway. More land could be jeopardized by SRP's 500-kilovolt power lines also running through the same area.

Other commercial developments, such as Harold Christ's 440-acre mixed-use plan northeast of Coolidge, Nearly one-third of that could eventually be needed for right of ways.

"We'd like to see a decision sooner rather than later, so we can plan around it," Christ said. "I want to make it work, I just need direction for planning."

Florence Town Manager Himanshu Patel said the town wouldn't hold off development. Home building will make a stronger case for ADOT skipping the western corridor.