DALLAS - With Federal Highway Administration approval in hand, Arizona can advance a $1.9 billion project known as the South Mountain Freeway that has been under consideration for a quarter-century.
The federal agency issued its record of decision March 10.
The 22-mile-long project will close a gap in Loop 202 southwest of Phoenix and will border the Gila River Indian Community.
The Arizona Department of Transportation plans to build the freeway as a public-private partnership under a 30-year agreement that would not include tolls.
"Both ADOT and the Maricopa Association of Governments agree this is a critically needed project, and ADOT is breaking new ground by moving it forward under a public-private partnership agreement to more closely involve the private sector, helping to save money and speed construction," said ADOT director John Halikowski.
The proposed South Mountain Freeway has been a critical part of the Maricopa Association of Governments' Regional Freeway Program since it was first included in funding through Proposition 300, approved by Maricopa County voters in 1985. The freeway was also part of the Regional Transportation Plan funding passed by Maricopa County voters in 2004 through Proposition 400.
The South Mountain Freeway is the last piece to complete the Loop 202 and Loop 101 freeway system, according to regional planners.
The freeway will be built with three general-use lanes and one high-occupancy vehicle lane in each direction. The $1.9 billion project is expected to take about four years to construct
"It has been a long time coming, and we look forward to the improved mobility and economic opportunities that this freeway facility will bring to our region," said Maricopa Association of Governments chair Michael LeVault, mayor of Youngtown.
The Gila River Indian Community, whose land the freeway will border, has issued mixed signals on the project.
A group of Gila River Indian Community members filed a federal Title VI Civil Rights Complaint against ADOT in 2013 seeking to stop the project.
The complaint, filed by community members along with the Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment, alleged that ADOT violated the civil rights of Native peoples by proposing a freeway that would "desecrate their sacred South Mountain" and cause negative health impacts to the community.
South Mountain is sacred to the Gila River Indian Community and several other tribes in Arizona.
The Maricopa Association of Governments is the Metropolitan Planning Organization and the lead planning agency for the Phoenix urban area. The MAG Long Range Transportation Plan represents the federally mandated 20-year plan. MAG's analysis area for the MPO covers all of Maricopa County as well as part of Pinal County.
