Byline: Mike Padgett
Commuters who feel cornered in Ahwatukee - sometimes called “the world’s largest cul-de-sac” - soon will have a new route to Interstate 10.
The Phoenix City Council, using $25 million in federal money, plans to ease commuter headaches for Ahwatukee residents by extending Pecos Parkway east to Interstate 10.
The new road could be open by late 2001, said James Matteson, Phoenix’s streets department director.
Mayor Skip Rimsza, in his May 21 memo to city manager Frank Fairbanks, said his goal is to have the road open by mid-2000.
The planned communities in Ahwatukee comprise Phoenix’s southernmost neighborhoods, as well as one of its most-densely populated zones. The area has about 80,000 residents squeezed between South Mountain on the north and west, 1-10 on the east and the Gila River Indian Community on the south.
One of its residents is Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio. He said he often is caught in traffic jams at Chandler Boulevard and 1-10 as he leaves his home for Phoenix City Hall.
“The backup could be up to three miles on Chandler Boulevard,” he said. “It takes me from 20 to 30 minutes to get on the freeway.”
DiCiccio said traffic problems will get worse as more houses are built. The population is expected to reach 110,000 around 2005 or later.
Under the proposal, the extension of Pecos east from 40th to 48th streets would be completed by a developer. Work on the ramp at Pecos and 1-10 will start after the developer’s work is finished.
“It will be a tremendous benefit,” Matteson said. “As you know, we’ve got the world’s largest cul-de-sac there.”
The ramp will cost about $10 million, with $15 million going to pay for the right of way for the ramp, Matteson said.
Phoenix will pay for the Pecos ramp construction in a program that Matteson said is unique in Arizona.
The proposal, in which construction will be completed by the Arizona Department of Transportation, works like this: Phoenix pays for the interchange and is reimbursed by the federal government. The only cost to Phoenix is the interest on a short-term loan obtained by the city.
“It is a brand new idea, something that is encouraged in the new federal transportation act that was just signed by the president,” Matteson said.
During the morning and evening rush hours, Ahwatukee’s four I-10 access streets - Chandler Boulevard and Ray, Warner and Elliot roads - are jammed by commuters and other motorists leaving or entering the community.
One of the veteran commuters is Don Keuth, president of Phoenix Community Alliance and a member of the Phoenix City Planning Commission. He said traffic bottlenecks at I-10 and Warner often makes up five to 10 minutes of his 25-minute commute between his downtown Phoenix office and’ his home near 35th Street and Knox Road.
Keuth said extending Pecos to I-10 “will really help those people who live back in the foothills,” the western end of the communities.
On the east side of I-10 from Phoenix is Chandler, where Mayor Jay Tibshraeny said connecting Pecos to I-10 should help businesses in his city, where rush-hour traffic sometimes restricts access.
“There’s a tremendous traffic bottle-up there right now, especially on the Phoenix side but also on the Chandler side as well,” Tibshraeny said.
Rimsza added that Phoenix hopes to extend Pecos west to 51st Avenue, which would give Ahwatukee residents their “very first exit to the west.”
Rimsza said representatives from Phoenix, the Gila River Indian Community and the Arizona Department of Transportation recently started talks about constructing the proposed South Mountain Freeway on Indian land south of the Pecos alignment.
That proposal includes a Pecos intersection with the proposed freeway, which would give Ahwatukee residents a western route around South Mountain.
In those talks, Pecos would remain as a parkway to minimize truck traffic, DiCiccio said.
Although a road over South Mountain would be a shorter distance between Ahwatukee and downtown Phoenix, officials say that concept never will happen.
Michael Goodman, a member of the Phoenix Mountains Preservation Council, said a road over the mountain preserve is informally discussed “every so many years” by developers or south Phoenix businesses.
While one obstacle to such a road would be a high cost, Goodman and others said asking voters to approve it would be a more formidable obstacle.
If such a proposal were raised, “we would unanimously oppose it,” said Fred Meister, also a member of the Phoenix Mountains Preservation Council.
Matteson added that any proposal to build a road through any of the mountain preserves must be submitted to all Phoenix voters, not just those who live in Ahwatukee.
“We have not proposed that,” Matteson said. “We have absolutely no intent to study it, let alone build it.”
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