Residents want to put brakes on freeway
John Machay, staff writer
West Valley View

1-27-06

Under most circumstances, putting 200 people in one room and getting them to reach a meeting of the minds would be a virtually impossible task.

Yet that’s exactly what happened Tuesday at the Tolleson Senior Center, where hundreds of the city’s residents showed up to convey a nearly identical message: They don’t want the South Mountain Freeway coming through Tolleson.

“I don’t think there was a single person there who was in favor of letting the freeway go through Tolleson,” City Manager Reyes Medrano said. “It was pretty amazing, actually, because we usually get one or two people in favor of it.”

The meeting was set up by the Arizona Department of Transportation to gauge public opinion on the future freeway, which eventually will complete Loop 202 with an Interstate 10 connection at one of three proposed locations: 55th Avenue, 71st Avenue or Loop 101.

While the Loop 101 option has received a glowing endorsement by the Maricopa Association of Governments, it’s ruffled quite a few feathers in Tolleson, where it would mean running the roadway right through the middle of town.

“If it goes through Tolleson, in my opinion, it will create a city that’s divided,” Tolleson Mayor Adolfo Gamez said. “I wouldn’t even consider this a city anymore. It would do away with the city’s character, history and culture.”

Not to mention Tolleson Union High School, the municipal center and several industrial hubs — all of which would be uprooted to make room for the freeway, Medrano added.

In addition to the loss of 10 to 15 Tolleson-based businesses, the Loop 101 alignment would require the bulldozing of somewhere between 240 and 530 homes, ADOT figures reveal.

All of which might explain Tuesday’s turnout of concerned citizens.

“It’s not that the residents are opposed to the South Mountain Freeway,” Medrano said. “It’s just that they don’t want to see it running through Tolleson.”

Tolleson favors 55th Ave. option
For that reason, Tuesday’s gathering of concerned residents spent much of the meeting rallying for the 55th Avenue option, which was ADOT’s original choice when it first drew up plans in 1988.

“ADOT planned on going with the 55th Avenue alignment before these other options popped up,” Medrano said. “[The residents] want them to go with their original choice because they think it makes much more sense.”

While that may be true for Tolleson residents, the people who live near the proposed 55th Avenue site likely have a different view. To connect the freeway at 55th, construction crews would have to demolish 120 houses and 78 businesses, ADOT figures indicate.

Similarly, the 71st Avenue option would put the kibosh on 780 houses and 15 businesses, ADOT reports.

Although the state faces opposition for all three alignments, Medrano believes the concerted effort to sway officials away from Tolleson might actually be working, he said.

“I truly believe the people at ADOT have been influenced by all the things our residents have had to say,” Medrano said. “It’s premature for me to say they’re going to decide against the Tolleson alignment, but I do believe they understand our concerns and they’re doing their best to incorporate that into their overall decision.”

When completed in 2015, the long-planned South Mountain Freeway will provide three lanes of travel in each direction from the West Valley all the way to Ahwatukee. Construction is expected to begin sometime in 2009, ADOT spokesman Matt Burdick said.

John Machay can be reached by e-mail at jmachay@westvalleyview.com.