Cities push original S. Mtn. link

Panel's choice to cost almost extra billion

Corinne Purtill
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 29, 2006 12:00 AM

Cities are rallying in the wake of a citizen panel's decision to back an alignment for the proposed South Mountain Freeway different than the one that planners have counted on for two decades.

With the Arizona Department of Transportation determined to finalize the western route of the $2 billion project by June, cities are lobbying hard to protect their investments in the original alignment at 55th Avenue.

"The city of Phoenix is going to defend this alignment to the very end," Phoenix Vice Mayor Doug Lingner said Friday. "We don't have money for a Plan B."

As first approved by the Maricopa Association of Governments in 1988, the South Mountain Freeway's route ran south from Interstate 10 at about 55th Avenue, curved east at South Mountain Park and followed Pecos Road before re-connecting to Interstate 10. That plan went before voters in two elections, most recently the Proposition 400 vote in 2004.

A federal study launched in 2001 required ADOT to consider multiple routes. Options for the freeway's western connection were narrowed to Loop 101, 71st Avenue or the original 55th Avenue alignment.

Though all three options are officially viable until ADOT makes its decision, the 71st Avenue connection has virtually no public or political support and is all but off the table, ADOT officials have said.

In 2002, the state formed the South Mountain Citizens Advisory Team, a panel of citizens from around the study area, to give input on the freeway. On Thursday night, a majority of the team opted to recommend the Loop 101 connection.

Team members said the westernmost route struck them as the most sensible thoroughfare. One woman cited homeland security concerns, saying the 55th Avenue route ran too close to fuel tanks south of I-10.

Others said they simply did not want a freeway through their community.

Voting was anonymous, and the logic behind some of the decisions was not immediately clear. For example, when asked which alignment was best costwise, about half of the team voted for the Loop 101 connection. That alignment could cost up to $2.4 billion, compared with just under $1.7 billion for the 55th Avenue route.

Their decision surprised and frustrated the leaders of Valley cities with a stake in the original plan.

Six-square-mile Tolleson could lose up to 370 acres if the freeway connects at Loop 101. If ADOT goes with the team's recommendation, the city may pursue a lawsuit, Mayor Adolfo Gamez said.

Phoenix officials say that everything from the city's grid street system to the wide swaths of undeveloped land in Laveen were planned around the 55th Avenue connection. Before Phoenix takes its case to ADOT, Lingner said he will organize meetings with the other cities that the freeway could run through, all of which have officially come out in support of the 55th connection.

Though some city leaders said they believe the state has shown a preference for the Loop 101 connection in the past year, ADOT spokesman Matt Burdick said the agency has no official stance.

"That wouldn't be appropriate for us to take a position," he said. Regionally, political support is solidly behind the 55th connection, while public support is split between the 55th and the 101, he said.

The state will weigh in with city officials as well as the Federal Highway Administration, which is funding the freeway in part and has historically preferred freeway-to-freeway connections like Loop 101.

The final decision, and the bulk of the cost, rests with MAG. So far, that body supports the original alignment.

"The choice the citizens' (team) recommended will cost another billion dollars," said Dennis Smith, executive director of MAG.

Reporter Marianne Refuerzo contributed to this article.