By Shelley Gillespie | Special for The Arizona Republic |
None of the nearly 200 Ahwatukee residents who attended a community forum appeared to be in favor of the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway.
Residents invited to the forum to review the draft environmental-impact statement for the project and offer comments were vocal about their opposition to the freeway.
The freeway construction could start as soon as 2015 and would take five years to complete. The proposed project would skirt Ahwatukee’s southern edge, beginning at the Pecos Road stack off Interstate 10, edging South Mountain Park, taking 31.3 acres from the park’s southwestern edge and continuing to a terminus at 59th Avenue at I-10 in Phoenix.
“The final decision on the project will come from ADOT and the Federal Highway Administration,” said Timothy Tait, assistant communication director for the Arizona Department of Transportation .
If the Gila River Indian Community decides to allow the freeway on reservation land, an additional study would be needed, delaying the start of construction by a year, Tait said.
In the offing since 1985, the freeway project has Ahwatukee residents working together to fight the roadway.
“We’re going to stop the freeway,” said Steve Brittle, director of Don’t Waste Arizona.
