By Sean Holstege | The Arizona Republic
On Friday, the Arizona Department of Transportation will release environmental findings on the proposed South Mountain Freeway, a task that has taken 12 years and $20.5 million to complete.
A routine meeting earlier this week at South Mountain Community College provided a glimpse of just how controversial the planned $2 billion bypass freeway could still become.
A panel called the South Mountain Citizens Advisory Team gathered for the first time in three years. Federal and regional air-quality experts told panelists that air pollution from exhaust pipes has fallen between 67 and 81 percent since 1990. Researchers reported that freeways don’t cause as much harm to human health as many think.
But in the back of the room, about a dozen members of the Gila River Indian Community and their allies told a different story — in absolute silence. They wore paper masks to symbolize the air pollution they fear a new 22-mile freeway will bring. They stood and held “No 202” banners for the entire two-hour meeting.
