Bob Golfen
The Arizona Republic
Dove Valley Road in far north Phoenix does not exist except as a dotted line on a planning map, yet freeway builders are ready to build a traffic interchange for the road at Interstate 17.
The project was recently moved up 15 years from its original date in response to intense growth in that area south of Carefree Highway and north of Happy Valley Road. Tens of thousands of new residents and hundreds of businesses are expected to locate there during the next 25 years.
Phoenix and the Maricopa Association of Governments Regional Council forged an agreement to accelerate the construction, which will begin next year with completion in 2009. It will coincide with the expansion of I-17 between Loop 101 and Carefree Highway. Phoenix will pay the $16 million to $18 million for the Arizona Department of Transportation to build the interchange about one mile south of Carefree Highway, with the state reimbursing the city in the future.
The idea is to get ahead of the growth curve and have the Dove Valley Road interchange completed before the traffic in that area can get any worse.
“This will allow (highway) development to be fairly well timed with building development,” said Phoenix Councilwoman Peggy Neely, whose District 2 includes the area east of I-17. “We were concerned with the congestion that’s occurring up there because of the growth.”
MAG projects population in the area bordered by Carefree Highway, Happy Valley Road, 67th Avenue and Cave Creek Road to reach almost 43,000 by 2010 and about 186,000 by 2030. Employment is expected to grow to more than 18,000 by 2010 and nearly 114,000 by 2030, according to MAG.
In the 2000 census, population in the area stood at 8,634, and employment was 3,190.
Carefree Highway already has become a congested road, particularly at I-17, because of the hundreds of new homes built to the east of the freeway and heavy use by travelers heading toward Lake Pleasant and Wickenburg. The interchange recently was upgraded with traffic lights and additional turn lanes, and ADOT plans eventually to build a diamond interchange.
