Homeowners offer mixed reactions to El Mirage Road addition

Construction on a new stretch of El Mirage Road on the border of Sun City West and Surprise will begin next month and neighboring residents had plenty to say about it Monday night at a Maricopa County Department of Transportation pre-construction meeting.

Most residents — mainly from the Sun Cities or Surprise — who attended the meeting asked a few questions of MCDOT construction contractors, viewed the numerous diagrams on display and expressed satisfaction with the forthcoming project.

Sun City West residents Bill and Peggy Parsons said the project was "wonderful."

"It’s 20 years too late," Bill said. "All of the eastern Valley got all of the money for 50 years and now we’re expanding to the West, and now we’re too late. The real key is the Loop 303 going across the top to I-17."

Sun City Grand resident Jim Hanson said the project is a needed addition to the area.

"I think it will be a big improvement. A lot of times I come down Bell and take El Mirage over to Beardsley and cut through Sun City West," he said.

But not all Northwest Valley residents who attended Monday’s pre-construction meeting at Surprise Elementary School agreed with the project plans.

"Once again, we cannot trust our government people. We were assured … 600 feet out and that’s what we went for and now all of a sudden, we come here today, and it’s now 300 feet. How do you believe these people?" said Edwin Owen, a Sun City West resident whose home borders El Mirage Road. "The noise – it’s only 300 feet from our house. They’re not going to put up a wall or a sound barrier."

The 3.8-mile stretch of new road varies from 300 and 600 feet away from bordering homes in Sun City West.

Roberta Crowe, MCDOT spokeswoman, said the roadway was shifted from original project designs so it wouldn’t be so close to Sun City West homes.

"This alignment was originally going to be on El Mirage Road but due to public input during the design phases we actually shifted the alignment 300 to 600 feet to the east," she said. "It was too close to the Sun City West perimeter wall, so we shifted it to provide a buffer between Sun City West and the new roadway."

She said the roadway is essential to accommodating expected growth in the Northwest Valley.

"The connection of this roadway will provide a vital link for regional connectivity between two major east-west corridors, Bell Road and 303," she said. "It’s a very, very important connecting route between these two major routes."

Crowe said based on predicted growth patterns in the area by about 2030, more than 40,000 cars are expected to travel this new stretch of road. For comparison, the stretch of Bell Road from Grand Avenue to the Loop 101 has about 70,000 cars each day and is the busiest arterial road in the state, Crowe said.

"El Mirage Road is a roadway of regional significance. Ultimately, El Mirage Road of the future will connect to Northern Parkway and then to US 60 Grand Avenue and then to SR Loop 303 … ultimately one day it will go to SR 74," she said. "It is a major north-south route in the Northwest Valley."

The project is set to begin in January and will be completed by August 2010. The cost of the new roadway, which will connect Bell Road and the Loop 303 freeway, is about $33 million.

Construction is expected from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday with possible work on weekends. At least one lane in each direction will be maintained during construction activity for residents and emergency vehicles but temporary closures and lane restrictions can be expected.

For more information on the project call the MCDOT construction hotline at 480-350-9288.

Erin Turner may be reached at 623-876-2522 or eturner@yourwestvalley.com.